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Chapter 1
Introduction to health
professional mobility in
a changing Europe
James Buchan, Irene A. Glinos and Matthias Wismar
My paediatrician has moved to Texas, my dentist to Dubai and my optician to
Stockholm.
Greek woman quoted by Symons (2012)
1.1 Introducing the changing context
Europe is faced with fundamental change affecting public policy priorities,
health systems and labour market behaviour. Health professional mobility,
already changing as a result of European Union (EU) enlargement, has more
recently been impacted by the effects of the financial and economic crisis.
This volume, which builds on and extends the analysis conducted in the first
volume of the PROMeTHEUS study (Wismar et al., 2011), takes account of
this changing context by looking in detail at the motivations and experiences
of mobile health professionals, and by examining the characteristics, impact
and potential of policies aimed at “managing” aspects of mobility. It does so at
a time when health workforce issues have become even more significant on the
agenda of most EU countries and at EU level (European Commission, 2012b;
Jelfs, 2012).
This volume provides evidence for policy-makers, managers, observers and
those responsible for the health professions. It highlights that health professional
mobility will be a persistent dynamic of labour markets and health policy, and
that our understanding of the phenomenon will have to adapt and adjust as
quickly as mobility trends and patterns are changing. Most importantly, it
reinforces the message for policy-makers in European countries that health
professional mobility has not been ended, or even reduced, by the continuing