Last updated: 30 April 2010

President’s Message


Dear EFN Members and Colleagues,


The General Assembly in Romania was a great success. The constructive discussions and decisions brought us forward and pinpointed the many exiting tasks we face in the time to come.

 

The EU workforce for Health is very high on the European agenda – and for a very good reason. The scope was originally to cope with the ageing workforce, but as the financial crisis has turned into a very severe economic crisis in all European countries, it is now very important to see the development of health workforce of tomorrow in the light of cut back in the Health sector.

 

The EFN will, at the next General Assembly in October 2010, in Brussels, have a “Tour de Table” on the cut down in finances for nursing and nurses – as this is a major threat for patients, patient safety, for nurses and for the future Workforce for health. Therefore, the EFN will follow the development of the economical crisis very closely over the summer.

 

                                               Grete Christensen

                                                    EFN President

 

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EFN UPDATE - MAY 2010



News from EFN

 

EFN Spring General Assembly, Romania

The EFN organised its 92nd General Assembly, in Bucharest - Romania, on 15-16 April 2010, where the members discussed, shared their experience, and provided their views on key issues, such as: the Directive 36 and the challenges in opening it; the EU Workforce for Health; Sharp Injuries and the upcoming EU Summit organised by the Spanish General Council of Nursing, an EFN member, on 1-2 June 2010, in Madrid - Spain; the European Nursing Research and the main conclusions of the survey “Nursing Research in Europe: reaching a consensus on strategic priorities” developed by EFN members (Germany, Portugal & UK) – The EFN members approved the EFN Policy & Position Statement on Nursing Research; the EU Projects: eHealth Joint Action (to be approved by the European Commission), and EUNetPaS WP2 (Education and Training) Patient Safety Education guidelines, and WP1 (Patient Safety Culture) Patient Safety Culture Indicators (PSCI) catalogue and recommendations; as well as the review of EFN Constitution to fit future challenges within the nursing community. The next EFN General Assembly will take place in Brussels on 28-29 October 2010.

 

For further information, click here.

 

Update

EU Workforce for Health

The EFN participated in the meeting of the Working Group on Healthcare Professionals organised by EPHA on 6 April 2010, with a focus on the development of strategies on the EU health workforce, building on past work on the mobility of healthcare professionals in the European Union. The meeting provided the healthcare professionals an opportunity to discuss the objectives for a European Parliament Declaration on EU Workforce in relation to the upcoming Belgian EU Presidency. The healthcare professions present agreed to work closely with each other when drafting policy documents and exchanging best practices, leading to empowered and successful EU Presidency policy outcomes.

 

The EFN also participated in the Policy Dialogues organised on 26-30 April 2010, in Leuven, Belgium, by the European Commission’s Directorate General of Health and Consumers and WHO European Observatory - on behalf of the Belgian Ministry of Health - as a follow up of the consultation on the Green Paper on the European Workforce for Health. The aim objective of these policy dialogues, that brought together delegates from the EU Member States, selected candidate countries and European Economic Area countries as well as European stakeholder organizations, was to gather evidence around specific aspects and raise policy options as regards EU workforce, and to initiate reflections and pave the way for the conference “Investing in Europe’s health workforce of tomorrow: scope for innovation and collaboration” that will be held on 9-10 September 2010, during the Belgium EU Presidency, which should create the momentum and produce the concrete policy options to be translated in the Council conclusions.

 

Update 

eHealth Users Stakeholders Group meeting

As member of the eHealth Users’ Stakeholders Group, the EFN participated in the meeting organised on 23 April 2010, in Brussels. The participants were briefed on the latest outcomes of the eHealth Conference held in Barcelona, on 15-18 March 2010. On 6 May 2010, the chair of the users group, Michael Wilks and the patient representative – the European Patients’ Forum (EPF) -, will attend a meeting with the Belgian Ministry of Health to discuss users stakeholders input to the Joint Action, specifically on the topic trust. Furthermore, Flora Giorgio from DG INFSO presented the ‘Digital Agenda’, part of the European Commission Work Programme 2010, focusing on patient and citizens engagement. Finally, EHTEL presented the project ETHICAL (Promoting international debate on ethical implications of data collection, use and retention for biometric and medical applications) and the members were invited to give their opinion on some relevant topics, in order to identify the main issues where the group should be focusing on for further action and developments. The next meeting will be held on 17 September 2010.