teaser
Leaders at the European Association of Hospital Pharmacy (EAHP) have recently continued discussions with the European Commission to promote the need to make recognition of the hospital pharmacy specialisation Europe wide.
On Wednesday 22 February Dr Roberto Frontini, President of the EAHP, accompanied by Policy Officer Richard Price, met with senior officials at the European Commission to discuss the future possibilities for recognition of hospital pharmacy specialisation.
EAHP presented a paper to the Internal Market and Services Directorate General (DG MARKT), which is leading a review of the Professional Qualifications Directive, exploring the feasibility of a new mechanism called a Common Training Requirement, being applied to specialisms in the sectoral professions.
This would enable a minimum of 9 member states to collaborate in the construction of a framework for recognizing common qualifications. EAHP consider this has the potential to greatly increase the mobility of hospital pharmacists with specialized qualifications in the future.
However, the Commission do not currently intend that the proposed Common Training Requirement will apply to the 7 “automatically recognized professions” (medical doctors, veterinarians, dentists, architects, nurses, midwives and pharmacists).
A useful exchange of views took place at the meeting and a greater understanding of each other’s positions was achieved. There is still much deliberations to be held on the proposed reform of the Professional Qualifications Directive, with Member State Governments beginning their examination of the Commission’s December 2011 proposals in the coming weeks, and the European Parliament commencing its formal discussions on 28 February.
EAHP will continue to make the case for new mechanisms to be created to enable hospital pharmacy specialization to be recognized across borders and will present its proposals to MEPs and others for consideration over the coming months.
