This study was initiated by AbbVie Norway, a branch of the global medical firm AbbVie. AbbVie is concerned by the sustainability of the healthcare system across Europe and thus helped to support the creation of a European Steering Group in 2014. Their primary goal was “to foster an exchange between academia, healthcare providers, patients' groups and industry”. The group’s work, led by the former Health Minister of Ireland, Mary Harney, was launched in a pan-European White Paper and Call to Action in Brussel in March 2015 under the name: Acting Together. A Roadmap for Sustainable Healthcare. The objective of the group was to “stimulate pan-European multi-stakeholder partnerships that will drive healthcare transformation by identifying practical, tangible actions and providing innovative solutions to the sustainability challenges facing healthcare systems”. The aim of this small-scale study has been to make some preliminary investigations into excessive care burden and how it may have an impact on employees’ working situation, and how employees in the best possible way can cater for employees who experience an excessive care burden, for a shorter or longer period of time.
