Health Care Human Resources’ Planning and Programming Act as a Necessary Tool for the Effectiveness and Strengthening of the Health Care Sector

The efficient planning and programming of human resources has a number of benefits for the organization, such as improved workforce management policies. Indeed, maintaining a healthy population has a positive impact on the productivity and competiveness of a country but it very much depends on the sustainability of the health care system and hence on the efficiency and effectiveness of its health care units. Health workforce planning and programming is a challenge for health care decisions makers as they aim to satisfy the needs of the system and secure a sufficiently sizeable health care workforce (medical doctors and nurses) in every geographical area and type of hospital. In the last five years, due to the severe economic crisis, the public health care sector in Greece has experienced a number of negative implications such as a freeze on the recruitment of health care employees, workforce imbalances, a reduction in health care expenditures and the merging of health care units. Based on the above, this study investigates the level of satisfaction of the health care workforce regarding human resource planning and programming in Greek health care units. Moreover, this study examines whether or not the personal characteristics (such as age, etc.) of medical doctors and nurses have any impact on their attitude. Based on the findings, recommendations are made to policy makers for possible improvements to the system.