Last updated: 03 December 2008

President’s Message

Dear EFN Members and Colleagues,


In all the European countries inequality between men and women is a serious problem, and as nurses we all face the fact that inequality in pay hit the nursing profession hard as most nurses are women.

 

For many of the EFN members this year has been a year where we have negotiated about wages and working conditions. And one main issue has been equal pay for equal work, not only between the genders, but also between different educations at the same level, and between public and private entities. Although some have made progress, it is very clear that there is a long struggle ahead of us before equal pay is a reality.

 

In the European Union the pay gap has decreased over the last years, but in some countries it has increased. In EU the average pay-gap between men and women is 15%, so the need for us to continue the work to decrease the gender pay gap is still very important. We see it as a positive approach, that the EU-commission continues their work about equality between genders, though we could wish even more focus of equality as it is needed more than ever.

 

I wish that all our hard work will benefit our members, and let us all hope, that the time to come will bring joy and laughter to all of us.

 

                                               Grete Christensen

                                                    EFN President

 

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03 December 2008



News from EFN

 

EUNetPaS Work Package 1 - “Patient Safety Culture”

The EFN participated in the meeting of the EUNetPaS Work Package 1 (WP1), held on 3-4 November 2008, in Aarhus, Denmark. The participants discussed on the future work of WP1 and on the involvement of the partners, and agreed that the work within the WP1 will focus on Instruments measuring patient safety culture and on experiences in change of safety culture. Spain and Austria will mainly bring in their experience. The deliverables for the WP1 are: a description of a set of selected patient safety culture instruments (PSCIs) according to defined criteria; an evaluated tool box outlining aspects of actionability, that is a collection and assessment of good and bad experiences in planning and implementing one of the PSCI selected in the set; and a good practice compendium describing experiences in the utilisation of patient safety indicators (PSIs) at local level and their relation to PSC as measured by PSCI. The RCN and the Iceland NNA brought into WP1 the instruments they are using.

 

For further information, click here.

Update

Delivering for Tomorrow’s European Consumers

The EFN participated in the conference “Delivering for Tomorrow’s European Consumers”, organised by DG Sanco, which concluded 2 years’ reflection on the Future Challenges, that looked at the tasks and opportunities that lie ahead for the next Commission (2009-2014) in terms of consumer, health and food safety policy. The event provided a good opportunity to explore the kind of global leadership the EU is able to offer in terms of good governance and regulation in key areas of importance to consumers, and also know-how in relation to identifying local actions for positive change. In relation to health policy, the critical importance in “health impact assessments” across all policy areas was stressed. The conference concluded with the recognition of a “duty to act”, not only on the part of the Commission but for all stakeholders. The Commission intends to continue, over the next 6 months, the dialogue to prepare a strategic paper for the new Commission – all stakeholders have been invited to engage in this process.

 

For further information, click here.

Update

News from the EU

 

European Vocational Education and Training policy

The Ministers of the EU Member States, the EFTA/EEA and the candidate countries, responsible for Vocational Education and Training (VET), as well as the European Commission and the European Social Partners, adopted on 26 November 2008 the Bordeaux Communiqué, which reviews the Copenhagen Declaration on enhanced cooperation in Vocational Education and Training. On 15 December 2008, the European Parliament will discuss the report of Jan Andersson on the proposal for a recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of a European Quality Assurance Reference Framework for Vocational Education and Training; as well as on the report of Thomas Mann on the proposal for a recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET).

 

For further information, click here.

Update


Free movement of workers

The European Commission published a report on the impact of free movement of workers in the context of the EU enlargement, which stresses that mobile workers from the countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007 have had a positive impact on Member States' economies and that the flow of labour has been limited. The report also highlights that the labour migration is mainly temporary and plays a role of adjustment. The European Commission encourages the Member States to lift restrictions to the free movement of workers from the new Member States.

 

For further information, click here.