Building Resilient Healthcare Systems
Unveiling the 2024 edition of the BD Healthcare Resilience Barometer
The 2024 BD Healthcare Resilience Barometer sets out to explore the resilience of healthcare systems in 100 countries across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).
It was developed using a selection of primary literature and secondary datasets from internationally recognised sources. It also highlights the perspectives of multiple key opinion leaders to help contextualise the 2024 BD Healthcare Resilience Barometer scores and bring unique insights into what can drive or threaten the resilience of healthcare systems.
Last year's BD Healthcare Resilience Barometer explored the variety of factors that can impact the stability of our healthcare systems - from shifting population demographics and resourcing constraints to developments in the macroeconomic environment and the increase of chronic disease.
In this 2024 edition, we are looking more closely at three core components that impact care delivery: the patients, the healthcare workforce, and the overall efficiency and sustainability of care delivery. These components are tightly interconnected. Therefore, the challenges affecting them must be addressed holistically to enable us to build sustainable and resilient healthcare systems that can preserve access to safe, high-quality care for current and future generations, and minimise the impact on the environment.
Learn more about the role we can all play in building healthcare systems that are resilient, responsive, and ready for the evolving needs of our societies.
Find out more about the resilience of healthcare systems in 100 countries across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), and through the lenses of three core pillars of a healthcare system:
- The patients
- The healthcare workforce
- The efficiency and sustainability of care delivery
This map is an interactive tool visualising the data underpinning the BD Healthcare Resilience Barometer.
PLEASE NOTE: A darker shade of colour always correlates with a more positive score.
You can find more information on how to interpret the scores under 'Instructions', and by clicking on the 'Information outline' button next to each indicator.
Patient Safety
Over 1 in 10 patients continue to be harmed from safety lapses during their care.1 However, with approximately 50% of patient safety events being considered preventable1, it is critical to build awareness, implement innovations and best practices to minimise the risk of harm to patients and build healthcare resilience.
Building healthcare resilience: Protecting patients from adverse events
In the first chapter of the report, we explore healthcare resilience in EMEA through the lens of patients and patient safety in hospitals. At BD, we believe that patient safety and quality improvement are critical to healthcare resilience. The BD Healthcare Resilience Barometer focuses on key issues including access to care, medical care quality, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), healthcare-associated infections (HAI), medication errors and prevention, sepsis and the adverse events of medical treatment.
The core mission of any healthcare system is the provision of safe and high-quality care for patients. Prioritising patient safety throughout the entire patient journey not only benefits the patients themselves but also leads to enhanced operational efficiencies.
Healthcare Workforce
Behind every medical breakthrough, every successful treatment, and every comforting word, there are healthcare professionals who dedicate their lives to taking care of others. However, with an expected shortage of 4.1 million healthcare professionals by 2030 in the EU-284 and 40% of medical doctors close to retirement age in almost one third of countries in the European Union5, it is imperative to find ways to build a more resilient healthcare workforce.
Building healthcare resilience: Protecting the health and safety of healthcare workers
Just as patient safety and quality improvement are integral to healthcare resilience, so too is the wellbeing and safety of the healthcare workforce. Efforts aimed at strengthening the resilience of healthcare systems must prioritise reducing the burden on staff and ensuring they have the support and resources necessary to deliver safe, high-quality care.
Staff burnout amongst healthcare staff is a growing problem across regions. The BD Healthcare Resilience Barometer report highlights an acute need for national occupational health and safety frameworks to ensure the safeguarding of nurse's and physician's mental health, and that institutions hold them selves to a high standard.
Efficiency of care delivery
As OECD data shows, a significant share of the health spending is, at best ineffective, and, at worst, wasteful.7 National health systems throughout Europe are trying to secure equal access to essential, high-quality care while protecting their long-term sustainability. And, with that, governments are intent on identifying ways in which they can improve their healthcare system's efficiency while addressing this dual challenge.8
Building healthcare resilience: Addressing inefficiencies
Resilient healthcare can only be achieved if all parts of the system are working optimally and with the same goal. Since OECD data shows that "a significant share of health spending is at best ineffective and at worst, wasteful", it is imperative to identify and address inefficiencies along the patient journey and (wherever possible) adapt processes to minimise waste and reduce the environmental impact of operations.
Prioritising safety throughout the entire patient journey not only benefits the patients themselves but also improves operational efficiencies. As staff shortages and burnout continue to increase,5,11 shorter hospital stays and lower readmission rates can help optimise the use of existing resources.12 In turn, improved staff wellbeing can lead to improved patient safety in healthcare. Collectively, this will elevate standards of patient care while helping to minimise the impact on the environment.
The comprehensive solutions needed to build more resilient healthcare systems call for collaboration and collective commitment from all actors connected to care delivery - both directly and indirectly.
It includes policymakers, regulators, researchers, academics, healthcare providers, funders, insurers, patients, and industry.
By working together, we can create resilient healthcare systems that meet our societie's evolving needs and maintain a safe environment for patients.
