WONCA Europe Council outcomes

Dr Anna Stavdal, WONCA Europe president reports on recent WONCA Europe Council endorsements:- two equity statements, the Overdiagnosis /Overtreatment position paper, and papers on Training Requirements for GP/FM, as well as Quality in family medicine.

The WONCA Europe Conference 2018 took place in Krakow, Poland, from 24-27 May, and concluded a busy and fruitful year for the region. Participants numbering 2,400, from 60 countries, participated in a conference with the core theme of “Quality, Efficiency, Equity”.

Equity statements

Leading up to the conference, EQuiP (the European network on Quality and Patient Safety) had already finalised a statement, which recognises equity as an essential dimension of quality of health care (the statement was endorsed by WONCA Europe). Promoting equity was also the focus of the conference Legacy Statement, and as expected, the theme resonated with the agenda of the WONCA Europe Council too, which met prior to the conference.
EQuiP Position Paper on Equity - a core dimension of Quality in Primary Care Krakow 2018 Statement

Overdiagnosis/ Overtreatment position paper

During the Council Meeting, the position paper on Overdiagnosis / Overtreatment was adopted, addressing problems related to “too much medicine” and unwarranted medical activities, which may lead to unnecessary waste of resources, inequalities and direct harm to people.
See separate news item

Training Requirements

The document on training requirements, developed by EURACT (the European Academy of Teachers in Family Medicine), was endorsed. This document is expected to provide guidance and be of important contribution to the process of achieving professional recognition of our specialty at the European Commission level.
European Training Requirements for GP/FM Specialist Training

Quality in PHC

Finally, the Council also endorsed the statement on measuring quality in primary health care from EQuiP, and the joint statement on the role of primary care physicians in influenza prevention, which was jointly developed by the European Scientific Working group on Influenza (ESWI), European Network for Prevention and Health Promotion in Family Medicine and General Practice (EUROPREV) and the International Primary Care Respiratory Group (IPCRG).
Measuring Quality in PHC
next month... WONCA Europe: Future Plan