Our healthcare systems are faced with a crucial paradox: How to cope with the growing demand for care when we have limited resources at hand due to shortages of healthcare workers? An aging population, tight budgets, and pandemic effects have worsened the situation, leading to understaffed and stressed healthcare workers, longer wait times, and compromised patient safety. Capacity Enhancing Innovations (CEIs) can support healthcare workers, bring more efficient care, and improve overall population health. They can play an part of the solution to the current healthcare challenges.

To build resilient and sustainable healthcare systems, capacity-enhancing innovations are essential. These innovations focus on adopting new technologies, reorganising services, and optimising care pathways to boost safety, efficiency, and effectiveness. These innovations can improve patient care, free up resources such as staff time and hospital beds, and enhance overall population health, making them vital for building resilient healthcare systems despite limited budgets.

Considering the crucial role of CEIs in shaping the future of healthcare, it is time to harness the benefits of innovation and collaboration to forge resilient and sustainable healthcare systems for generations to come. The CEI Working Group has put forward a Call to Action with concrete proposals and asks to EU policy makers to in order to empower healthcare systems with the tools necessary to enhance capacity and improve patient care across the region.