The EAHP EU Monitor is a regular round up of news relevant to hospital pharmacy in Europe.

You can subscribe to receive the EAHP EU Monitor by email here. 

HELP THE COMMON TRAINING FRAMEWORK PROJECT BY SHARING YOUR PERSPECTIVES ON LABOUR MOBILITY!

EAHP and its member associations are engaged in an ambitious project to form a common training framework for hospital pharmacy specialisation in Europe. Such a framework has the primary aim of ensuring all European health systems can benefit fully from the contribution of hospital pharmacy by underpinning professional education and training.

The common training framework would have the additional benefit of delivering improvements in labour mobility for the hospital pharmacy profession by enabling recognition of qualifications in other countries. In order to assist the project, EAHP now asks all hospital pharmacists to kindly provide their perspective and experiences in relation to labour mobility by completing a very short online questionnaire.

Take the survey today here.

Results will be shared at the next EAHP Congress in Vienna, 16-18 March 2016.

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RENEWED ATTENTION ON PARALLEL TRADE OF MEDICINES IN THE EU

Recent weeks have seen renewed scrutiny of how parallel trade of medicines in Europe operates and its impact for the operation of the supply chain.

The Greek Government recently imposed an exceptional ban on the export of 25 types of medicine in July 2015 following warnings of possible serious shortages. Officials said at the time that "abuses" by some market players had been discovered, after pharmacists complained of difficulties in securing supplies. Before the temporary ban, drugmakers and wholesalers had traded blame about who was responsible for a worsening supply situation at pharmacies and hospitals. The temporary ban has now been lifted. More information here.

Meanwhile, in early September, EU health commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis told a Romanian news outlet that EU countries have the right to stop wholesalers from selling drugs outside one country at cheaper prices in another if it decreases patients' access to treatment. "EU member states have the right to regulate parallel drugs trade. Slovakia took this kind of measure, Poland too," Andriukaitis told the Romanian health journalist Vlad Mixich in an interview published by Hotnews.ro. Stopping so-called parallel trade "is an absolutely legal instrument" that EU countries have in their toolbox and they should be encouraged to use it, the Commissioner said. This marks a more outspoken position than previous Health Commissioners.

Mr Andriukaitis's intervention subsequently drew a strong response from the European Association of Euro-Pharmaceutical Companies (EAEPC), that represents parallel traders at the European level. In a statement EAEPC replied: "There is currently nothing to suggest that parallel trade in medicines causes problems in accessing medicines or shortages. To the contrary, parallel trade often leads to better access to medicines at more affordable prices for consumers and Member States, by providing liquidity and competition to a pharmaceutical market still fragmented by national borders." EAEPC response here.

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FIP PUBLISHES UPDATE TO THE GLOBAL HOSPITAL PHARMACY STATEMENTS

6 years after the initial publication of international statements of hospital pharmacy (known as "the Basel Statements"), the hospital pharmacy section of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) has now published an update following a revision process in 2014.

As well as consolidating the number of statements to 65, FIP has also published an updated section of its website providing background and explanation to the statements, as well as video case studies of their use and application. The revised statements and associated resources are available here.

FIP's Basel Statements formed a basis for the subsequent development of European Statements of Hospital Pharmacy in 2014 by EAHP, its member organisations and European patient and healthcare professional organisations. The European Statements now form a foundation for the conduct of EAHP's professional development mission.

More information about the European Statements of Hospital Pharmacy here.

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EAHP ACADEMY SEMINAR 2015: FROM MEDICINES RECONCILIATION TO MEDICINES OPTIMIZATION

From 11th to 12th September 2015, over 50 hospital pharmacists from 30 countries gathered in Zagreb, Croatia for a focused weekend of education development on the theme "From medicines reconciliation to medicines optimisation".

Experts speakers from across Europe addressed diverse aspects of medicines reconciliation services, including:

• medicines reconciliation on admission;
• lessons learnt for successful implementation of medicines reconciliation;
• integrated medicines management with a focus on the discharge process; and,
• structured patient interviews on error incidence and severity. 

Presentations from the event are available online here.

The Academy Seminar is an annual educational event facilitated and provided by the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists to its member organisations. The aim of the Academy is to foster research and educational activities to allow hospital pharmacists from all European countries to develop their activities in a general setting of public health in their country or across the continent. Medicines reconciliation forms an important part of the vision for the hospital pharmacy profession expressed through the 44 European Statements of Hospital Pharmacy. 

More information about EAHP's Academy Seminar programme is available here.

EAHP would like to thank the Croatian Pharmaceutical Society for their assistance with the weekend's programme.

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EJHP - SEPTEMBER 2015 EDITION NOW ONLINE!

The September 2015 edition of the European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy includes articles on: drug safety approaches in Chinese hospitals; a customer focus improvement initiatives in a Swiss regional hospital pharmacy; the application of a Delphi technique to define 'medication wastage'; pharmacist interventions in a psychiatric setting; and, a short report on pharmacist intervention in pain management following heart surgery.

See the full edition here.