The aim of Bain’s report is to provide leadership teams with data, insights and analysis that can help them better manage their businesses through a period of pivotal change for the industry. The findings are based on input from 1,156 physicians across nine specialties and 154 hospital procurement administrators in Germany, France, the UK and Italy.

Citing staffing shortages, budget cuts, aging equipment and inadequate facilities, physicians warn they are unprepared to cope with looming healthcare challenges, including aging populations and the reemergence of infectious diseases. In addition to inadequate resources, physicians also cite a lack of unbiased information, which impedes sound decision making.

The research shows that the pace of changes designed to solve the said issues in European healthcare systems has stalled. Moreover, high levels of physician discontent will have consequences for all businesses in Europe’s healthcare ecosystem. Doctors are extremely dissatisfied, not only with hospital working conditions, including poor management and organization, but with the quality of care that hospitals deliver and the quality of physician training.

Bain’s experts suggest three initiatives to help hospitals and other healthcare providers begin to reverse negative attitudes and lay the foundations for change: modernize management structures, engage physicians in rethinking care delivery, and improve talent management. In medtech, the proposed solution is to address the needs and preferences of both surgeons and procurement officers, which are radically different: while surgeons cite poor service and support as their main cause of discontent, procurement officers are mostly dissatisfied with the price of equipment.

Though Bain & Company experts admit that change is overdue, they indicate that a more holistic approach to care delivery, with broader collaboration between healthcare providers and pharma and medtech manufacturers, can help improve the situation.