On 2 October 2024, EurHeCA held its administration board and General Assembly meetings in Brussels. EurHeCA is an association gathering the competent authorities of several health professions, chaired by Pascale MATHIEU, President of the French National Council of Physiotherapists. The main message conveyed by EurHeCA is the need to place patient safety at the heart of European policies on the mobility of healthcare professionals.
The administration board and the General Assembly meetings provided EurHeCA with the opportunity to update its statutes to comply with the new requirements of Belgian law, as the association is based in Belgium.
The General Assembly also allowed for a review of the ongoing European institutional renewal and the identification of new relevant stakeholders for EurHeCA within European institutions. An overview of important institutional developments on topics of interest for EurHeCA — such as mobility of healthcare professionals and European health related initiatives — was also shared with the association members.
Discussions among the members of the association were also an opportunity to identify the key messages EurHeCA should promote, and the actions to be taken in the coming months to convey these messages to the European institutions. In particular, the competent authorities within EurHeCA emphasized the need to provide the European Commission with concrete feedback, based on their experience, regarding the functioning of the tools provided by the Directive on the recognition of professional qualifications. EurHeCA intends to share this feedback with the European Commission, notably in the framework of the evaluation process regarding the implementation of the Directive that is now beginning.
An exchange with Claudia LOUATI, Policy Director of the European Patients’ Forum (EPF), then allowed EurHeCA members to present the topics of interest to their organizations at the European level. A discussion on EPF’s priorities for the coming years also took place.
Finally, the association members decided to organize an event in Brussels in 2025 to present the association and its work to Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and relevant European decision-makers.
