Dear colleagues,

In the UEMO we certainly do not get the opportunity to see each other very often and it is my intention to, on a somewhat irregular basis, provide you with a kind of newsletter in which you are updated on current developments.

THE NECESSITY OF THE UEMO AS AN ORGANISATION

I would like to start this letter by stating that I am absolutely convinced that General Practitioners need their own voice and organisation in order to be heard both nationally and internationally. We would never have been able to come forward in our profession if we had not talked for ourselves. The UEMO is a long-established organisation and its presence has proved crucial for GPs and their development in Europe.

This does not mean that we do not need cooperation, and letting other colleagues and organisations present our ideas is of course of utmost importance. But it can never substitute our own voice.

CPME- ASSOCIATED ORGANISATIONS (AOs)

We will continue our discussions on future cooperation between the CPME and AOs. Our next AO-meeting will be in January 2003, and as discussed in Florence, I will give you a written report from that meeting. I am sure it will then be time to have your opinions before our next General Assembly in Stockholm. If we could agree to have a common office between the organisations, we would really have reached one goal. That would already mean easier and more natural communication between us. Probably a more loose structure between us is realistic to begin with.

PROPOSAL FOR A DIRECTIVE ON MUTUAL RECOGNITION OF PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

The lobbying process continues and after our Florence General Assembly we have continued to express our views on the current proposal to the MEP Rapporteur Mr Zappalà. We have of course also informed him about the newly adopted statement on GP/FM as a medical specialty (UEMO 2002/160). The Presidency has, after expert consultation, taken the stand that for the moment it is wiser not to try to insert a three-year specialty of GP/FM in the Annex to the Directive (i.e. a Title III inclusion). If we did that the specialty would not be equal to other specialties included therein, as they have four or five years of training. Instead, it is important to keep status quo in the current directive and work, once the national lobbying is finalised, to a change in the future. Of course, we wish to keep the directive "clean" and are therefore, taking into account our recent statement on GP / FM as a medical specialty (UEMO 2002/160 and in line with the common reaction paper of CPME and the AOs, particularly interested in the deletion of recital 13.

With regard to the current debate in the European Parliament we have been informed that the handling of the Zappalà report in the EP Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market is delayed and will not be presented until the beginning of next year.

MEP John Bowis (UK) is the draftsman in the EP Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy and his opinion is in line with our common reaction document, though there do not seem to be much said about the 52 specialties and their mutual recognition. I have met him myself, and told him about our statements of a future specialty to guarantee quality and security for our patients in a more and more demanding health care.

You are all aware that the implementation of the three years to work as a GP in Europe will not come into force until 2006. Now we have the statement of the UEMO to have GP/FM a medical specialty recognised under Title III of the Directive, and that the demands of general practice require a training period of five years.

No country has exactly the same structure of health care as the other. I feel a great responsibility to listen to every country, because if we will have progress in the development of our specialty, we must work together and have the same goals. Concerning the specialty some countries already have it, while others have a long way to go. It is indeed a long way, but if we are united and lobby, it is not an impossible way to go. For the moment the national lobbying for our ideas is of utmost importance. The National Medical Associations, the national governments and other relevant authorities and politicians on the national level must now be approached. We trust that each UEMO delegation knows the national structure best in order to influence successfully.

Now our purpose is to show why we need the five years and to specify the content of the five years. The countries already having a five-year specialty know the necessity of having five years. They know that the specialty requires training for as long time as most of the other specialties. We will focus on the different competencies necessary to reach to be a specialist in GP/FM. The Presidency and the Vice-Presidents are now preparing a Questionnaire to all of you to be answered within a short time. To reach a specialty of five years is one of our long-term goals of the UEMO. We all know the time it took to reach three years. But perhaps the process may speed up if we have success nationally. Then Title IV will disappear.

I also wish to inform you that immediately after our Florence meeting I sent a letter to Mr Stoodley in order to continue our discussions about having General Practice / Family Medicine as a medical specialty.

We continue to inform the CPME about our plans for the future and they keep us informed as well.

UEMO WEB-SITE

Slowly the web site is getting reshaped and will hopefully be of use between us.

We have had some problems with delivering of documents, but we will soon send out the Questionnaire on Equal Opportunities to be answered within a month.

EUROPEAN MEN’S HEALTH FORUM (EMHF)

The UEMO has been invited by Dr Ian Banks to attend the Board of the EMHF. After having taken part in the second world congress on Men’s health, I am convinced that the UEMO, together with WONCA Europe, ought to accept the offer to be in the Board.

In the Board is also MEP John Bowis, and some more colleagues involved in the same projects in the UK and the world organisation of Men’s health.

In the Advisory board is Dr Wolfgang Rutz, WHO, who is a friend of mine from Sweden, and who is responsible for Mental health in the 55 countries of the WHO. He and all the other members in EMHF are convinced of the important role of GPs in these items.

I think we have had many important and difficult items on our agenda so far in the UEMO.

I really appreciate working with all of you, and I like the openness we have together. I am there to respect all opinions, and try to make the best and most suitable compromise of our discussions. We are all there to make GP/FM heard and seen in Europe. We all know the important work we do with our patients, especially those who have no possibility to make their voice and suffering heard.

I will keep you informed, and please do not hesitate to keep me informed about what is happening nationally.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Kindest regards,
Christina