Highlighting the human impacts of the workforce crisis

Showcasing Stories from European Cancer Professionals

Between July and October 2023, we solicited personal accounts of the human impact of this crisis, asking healthcare workers to describe the day-to-day challenges they now face.

The stories below identify some of the issues they addressed.

• Workforce shortages – failure to retain or attract staff
• Increasing workloads leading to feelings of exploitation and burnout
• Too much bureaucracy
• Low wages
• Inadequate training
• Increasing errors leading to frustration by both patients and caregivers:

We thank all those who have contributed . Your stories are driving change. But this is just a start. We need more. Please send your own to workforce@europeancancer.org.

Background

To better understand and document the workforce issue, we are identifying case studies addressing the most urgent and pressing issues.

The stories gathered below present tales from doctors, nurses, managers, and workers at various levels in healthcare, all telling us how the current crisis has affected their workload, their everyday life, and their ability to appropriately care for their patients. They explore the effect on task completion, patient interaction, and personal job satisfaction.

These powerful narratives are essential to understand the challenges cancer care providers face each day.

See below.