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Summary
of the Executive Committee Meeting held in Estoril, Potugal, on 28 –
February – 2 March 2008
The last Executive
Committee Meeting of the Europe Region was held in Estoril,
Portugal. The Executive Committee meeting focused primarily on
the revision of the documents which will be presented at the 2008
General Meeting (GM) and in the GM preparation.
The
meeting also focused on:
- EU grant for the joint
ER-WCPT project,
- the 2nd Education
Congress in Stockholm, Sweden
EU
grant for two ER-WCPT projects - Since the last
Executive Committee meeting, there were two meetings, each one
related with each part of the project.
Part A - Pain in the
back? Guide exercises programme for avoiding back pain in children
and teenagers – The Education WG met on 19 January
2008,
in Madrid, Spain.
Part B - Staying
clean: Guide exercises programme to support smokers / ex-smokers in
giving up. – The Professional Issues WG met on 26 January
2008,
in Brussels, Belgium.
Related to Part
A, a literature review had been made by the German Association. This
literature review had been sent to the Project Partners and to the
Education WG Members, as evaluators of the guide developments, for
comments. The WG Members and the Project Partners had sent their
comments to the German Association which had been evaluated and
include as appropriate. The objective of this literature review was
to find best practice models in order to prepare an intervention
programme.
The next steps were agreed as follows:
- To send the final
review to the stakeholders and Member Organisations for comments.
- To develop the
intervention programme to be presented to the MOs at the workshop
in Athens. The programme will be also sent to the MOs before the
workshop for their evaluation and
comments.
ER-WCPT
Congress on Physiotherapy Education in 2008
The Chairman of the
Education WG informed the meeting about the activities undertaken to
prepare the 2nd Congress on Physiotherapy Education as follows:
- The abstracts
submission was closed on 2 January 2008. 220 Abstracts had been
received.
- Registration: The registration has
been opened. There would be an early bird registration for 300 EUR
till the 31 May 2008. For the Education WG members and for the
students involved in the organisation of the Congress the
registration would be offered for free.
- A Workshop to approve
the EU project, Part B Staying clean: Guide exercises programme to
support smokers / ex-smokers in giving up, would take place before
the Congress at the same venue, on 24 September 2008.
- A half-day
Post-Congress meeting for ER-WCPT delegates would also take
place after the Congress at the same venue, on 27 September 2008.
- Programme: A draft
Congress programme was presented to the meeting.
- The Education WG and
Executive Committee Members would be used as Chairmen of the
Congress sessions and as well as substitutes and discussion
facilitators.
- The Congress
organisers should appoint someone to summarize the conclusions
from each session.
- The Organising
Committee should take care of the protocol of the opening
ceremony.
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Promotion
of the field of physiotherapist
activities
To promote physiotherapy related
activities dealing with political issues of Member Organisations,
the initial steps in the establishment of a continuous professional
development programme by the Austrian Association is presented.
Due to the lack of a national wide system to monitor the
continuous professional development of physiotherapists in Austria,
the Austrian Association established in 2004 the possibility to
demonstrate professional development in form of the so
called
“Weiterbildungsdiplom”. Since then, members of the Austrian
Association as well as non members can apply for the
“Weiterbildungsdiplom” if they are able to demonstrate 80 hours of
professional development within 3 years on a voluntary base.
However, as this certificate had not been recognised by the
Austrian health authorities, it had no legal or official
implications. This changed from 2008 on. In extended negotiations
the Austrian Association reached a breakthrough with a mayor health
insurer. First, the latter recognises the Austrian Association as
the authority, in assessing the requirements of an adequate level of
professional development, based on the already existing
“Weiterbildungsdiplom”. Second, the granted “Weiterbildungsdiplom”,
enables physiotherapists registered by this insurer to apply for an
up to 50% reimbursement of expanses for course fees related to the
granted “Weiterbildungsdiplom”.
The Professional Issues
Working Group invites all
Member Organisations of the ER-WCPT to share their successes in
dealing with political issues, which would lead to an increasing
body of references.
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EU
cross-border health care legislative proposal
postponed
The European Commission
announced on 19 December 2007 that the EU cross-border health care
legislative proposal, which is expected to clarify the rules on
cross border healthcare and is tackling patients' rights to obtain
reimbursable medical treatment in another EU member state, was
postponed until early 2008 (probably until spring 2008) due to a
series of open and controversial questions that need further
discussion.
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EU
pension initiative to support workers’
mobility
The European Commission has
recently published two studies that report that supplementary
pensions’ schemes are still a problem for the mobility of the
workers across Europe, and support the Europe-wide initiative to
improve people's access to supplementary pension rights when
changing jobs or working in another EU country. Over the coming
months the Commission will be working together with the Slovenian
Presidency to make progress on finding agreement for an effective
and proportionate directive to reduce obstacles to mobility without
placing undue burdens on pension providers.
For further
information:
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/73&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=EN
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A
new European Commissioner for Health
The European
Commissioner for Health, Markos Kyprianou, has resigned from its
current position to take up the role of Foreign Minister in the new
Cypriot Government. Mr. Kyprianou successor is Mrs. Vassiliou, who
was tipped as a Health Minister for Cyprus in 1999 and has been very
active in the environmental field and human rights. She is known for
her support to women and their representation in politics and
business. ER-WCPT would like to thank Commissioner Kyprianou for his
hard work under this Commission and would like to offer our warm
welcome to Androulla Vassiliou. The current Commission mandates ends
in autumn 2009.
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European
Parliament hearing of new Health Commissioner
Following the resignation of
Commissioner Kyprianou, a hearing was held on 1 April 2008 to
confirm the appointment of his replacement, Mrs Vassiliou in the
European Parliament.
On 29 February 2008, the Council of the
European Union decided by written procedure to appoint Mrs Vassiliou
as European Commissioner for Health, from 3 March 2008 to the end of
the current Commission’s term of office, on 31 October 2009.
Background
In accordance
with the Framework Agreement on relations between the European
Parliament and the Commission, it was agreed that the Mrs Vassiliou
would appear before Parliament without delay and in full compliance
with the prerogatives of the Institutions. The main purpose of the
hearing was to give the parliamentary committees a chance to
confront Mrs Vassiliou’s views on the priorities of her area of
responsibility. The hearing also strengthened her democratic
accountability and legitimacy.
To prepare for the hearing,
Mrs Vassiliou was requested to reply to a written questionnaire. The
written questionnaire is compounded in two parts: general and
specific questions.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/hearings/commission/2008/questionnaires_en.htm
Results and initial
responses
The Commissioner made a very good impression
during her hearing, and initial responses from MEPs, the press and
other present stakeholders has been very positive. The Commissioner
demonstrated a strong background in her Curriculum Vitae and
presented a powerful and passionate commitment to public health
protection and promotion.
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EU
Call
for Proposals 2008
The European Commission Public
Health Programme has published its call for proposals for
2008,
in order to ensure that the EU organisations
participate in the 2nd Programme of Community action in the field of
Health (2008-2013), and fulfil all the programme objectives, under a
wide variety of financing mechanisms. The deadline to submit
proposals to the calls is
23 May 2008. For further information:
http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_programme/howtoapply/call_for_propal_en.htm
On
the following link you will be able to find out further information
about the objectives of the programme (2008 – 2013), the budget, who
can participate, call for
projects and other material related with the health
programme.
http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_programme/documents/prog_booklet_en.pdf
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Commission
proposes to continue financing Community Tobacco Fund to pay for
awareness-raising on dangers of tobacco
On 4 February
2008, the European Commission proposed to extend the financing of
the Community Tobacco Fund for the next two years. In the current
funding period, the Fund gave support to the "HELP – for a life
without tobacco" campaign. (http://www.help-eu.com)
The Smoke Free
Partnership has urged a far more cost effective use of these
resources.
Background
The "Community
Tobacco Fund" is derived directly from the aid granted for the
production of raw tobacco within the framework of the Common
Agricultural Policy.
The CAP reform regulations of 2003 and
2004 provide the mechanisms allowing the existing tobacco subsidies
to be converted to a single farm payment as income support to
farmers.
Under the tobacco reform of 2004, the
tobacco-producing Member States will phase out production linked
payments for tobacco growers between 2006 and 2010, replacing them
with non-production-linked ’decoupled’ payments. These will be
linked to the fulfilment of certain environmental, animal welfare
and food quality standards (’Cross Compliance’). Some countries have
already completely decoupled their payments and, as such, the budget
for tobacco subsidies has declined from €922 million in 2005 to €321
million in 2007.
The
Fund’s budget
In 2004, the budget heading relating to
the Community Tobacco Fund has been allotted an appropriation of 14.4 million
euro to cover communication actions taken by Directorate-General for
Health and Consumer Protection (DG SANCO).
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/index_en.htm
In the political discussions on the need to continue giving
support to the production of raw tobacco, which costs around 950
million euro per year, the Council decided initially to introduce a levy not exceeding 1%
on this subsidy to finance a Community fund for research and
information. The percentage of the levy required for the Fund has
been increased in stages, and will be raised up to 5%, and its scope
was extended.
The current maximum ceiling for tobacco aid
stands at €337.937 million, meaning that the maximum annual amount
which can be transferred to the Fund is €16.897 million.
The projects financed by
the Fund
The development of new tobacco varieties and
cultivation methods, alternative uses for raw tobacco and
alternative crops (until 2001) and projects to help tobacco growers
to switch to other crops or activities (since 2002). These projects
are run under the responsibility of the Agriculture General
Directorate (DG AGRI). http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/index_en.htm
Improving
public awareness of the harmful effects of tobacco consumption
through education and information. The Fund gave support to the
"HELP – for a life without tobacco" campaign. These projects are run
under the responsibility of the DG SANCO.
The Fund’s public health
objectives
- Raising public
awareness of the harmful effects of tobacco consumption, including
passive smoking.
- Improving the
relevance and effectiveness of the messages put across about the
harmful effects of tobacco consumption, and the methods of
communication used (language and images).
- Preventing and
stopping smoking.
- Disseminating the
results to the national authorities and the relevant
sectors.
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Smokeless
tobacco products are addictive and hazardous to health, scientific
committee concludes.
Smokeless tobacco products are addictive
and hazardous to health, a scientific committee
concluded.
The Scientific Committee on Emerging
and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) in its opinion on
smokeless tobacco products addressed their health effects and
addiction potential. Furthermore, it examined the role of these
products in smoking initiation and cessation, as well as the
possibility to extrapolate the experience and use patterns from
countries permitting the use of oral tobacco to other EU-countries,
where this use is currently banned.
According to the
opinion, smokeless tobacco is addictive and withdrawal symptoms are
broadly similar to those seen in smokers. Smokeless tobacco products
contain various levels of toxic substances and these products are
carcinogenic to humans.
The Committee also stated that on
the available evidence it is not possible to draw conclusions as to
the relative effectiveness of smokeless tobacco as an aid to smoking
cessation in comparison with established therapies. Moreover, trends
in prevalence of smoking and use of oral tobacco are not
predictable, as no extrapolation can be derived on the use of oral
tobacco in countries were it has not been used before. SCENIHR
provides the Commission with an updated and useful assessment in
order to manage health risks in a responsible way according to its
competences.
For further information:
http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/committees/04_scenihr/docs/scenihr_o_013.pdf
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European
Commission policy priorities for 2009
On 13 February
2008, the European Commission presented its Annual Policy Strategy
for 2009, which highlights the policy objectives in five priority
areas: growth and jobs, climate change and sustainable Europe,
making a reality of the common immigration policy, putting the
citizen first, and Europe as a world partner. A number of
initiatives will be put forward on important isues, such as:
patient safety by a proposal on medical devices, health and safety
at work, equality between women and men, free movement of people,
flexicurity. The Commission will now start an exchange of views with
the European Parliament and the Council on where the policy
priorities should lie in 2009, and how this should be reflected in
the Commission's legislative and work programme to be adopted in
October and in the budget for 2009.
For further
information:
http://ec.europa.eu/atwork/synthesis/index_en.htm
http://ec.europa.eu/atwork/synthesis/doc/aps_2009_en.pdf
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European
Commission Consultation on Patient Safety
The European
Commission launched on 25 March 2008 an eight week public
consultation on patient safety. The results of this will help in the
development of the Commission's proposal for on general patient
safety issues planned for the end of 2008. That proposal will
address the important issue of patient safety throughout the
European Union (EU) and will include a detailed first pillar,
addressing healthcare-associated infections (HCAI), on which
separate public consultations have already been held.
The
two primary objectives of the Commission's general patient safety
proposal will be:
- To support Member
States in their efforts to minimise harm to patients from adverse
events in their health systems, through appropriate policies and
actions to improve safety and, therefore, quality of
care.
- To improve EU
citizens' confidence that they will receive sufficient and
comprehensible information available on levels of safety and
available redress in EU health systems, including healthcare
providers in their own country and in other Member States.
Patient safety issues
can affect all EU
citizens. The Commission would like to have the views of
all those involved in
this field from the patient and consumer to national competent
authorities, from the health professional to the healthcare manager
and anyone else who wishes to participate.
http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_overview/patient_safety/consultation_en.htm
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First
World Health Professions Conference on
Regulation
The first World Health
Professions Conference on Regulation (WHPCR) will take place in
Geneva, Switzerland, on 17-18 May 2008.
The main focus will
be on: 1) the role of professionals in addressing health needs; 2)
models of health professional regulation; and 3) regulatory
governance and performance.
Taking place just prior to the
World Health Assembly (19–23 May 2008), the WHPCR will provide a
global, inter-professional forum to explore the future of the health
care system regulation and the role of the health professions in
regulation for improvement in health care to the benefit of
patients.
The conference will bring together policy makers;
health system managers and administrators; researchers and
scientists; as well as leaders in the health professions. It is
organized by the World Health Professions Alliance (WHPA)* in
cooperation with the World Confederation for Physical Therapy
(WCPT).
The registration is now open at: www.whpa.org/reg/index.htm and the preliminary
programme could be found at: http://www.whpa.org/reg/programme.htm. Those
interested in submitting an abstract for poster presentations could
find further information at: www.whpa.org/reg/abstracts.htm
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eHealth
2008 conference
The eHealth 2008 Conference will
be held in Portoroz, Slovenia, on 6 – 8 May 2008
The conference
will highlight solutions to eliminate various barriers in European
healthcare. These barriers are either geographical ones, like those
between healthcare providers, regions and states, or communication
difficulties among the various players in healthcare systems which
include users, healthcare workers, management, or regional and
national authorities.
For further information:
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=3698
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eHealth
Management workshop
The ehealth Management workshop
will take place in Barcelona, Spain, on 9 June 2008.
This
workshop will review IT management issues with a core focus on
eHealth. It is geared to two sets of people those with a particular
interest in eHealth and those with a general interest in public
services and their use of information and communication
technologies. Especially
welcome are health service managers and executives, public sector
officials, civil servants, ICT managers, designers and implementers.
For further information contact: eHealth@ec.europa.eu
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Positive
Aging
Positive Aging. An Interdisciplinary Team
Approach for Health Professionals. Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada. 24 – 25 May 2008.
The aim of this conference
is to bring together an interdisciplinary audience of health
professionals and researchers to address some of the issues and
challenges facing the
aging population today. Hear about the most current research
findings from leading experts, learn how research can be translated
into practice, and discover useable resources to promote healthier,
more positive living for Canada’s older adult population. The
importance of an interdisciplinary team approach to care giving and
research will be emphasized.
For further information or a
downloadable brochure, please visit: www.interprofessional.ubc.ca
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