"Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to warmly welcome you all to this very important conference which stands for the successful work of the European Medical Organisations – and I am heartened by today's large and distinguished audience.
Together, I believe we can bring Continuous Professional development forward to further improve the healthcare which we would like to offer to our citizens.
I am pleased that Luxembourg has been chosen to host this conference during the Luxembourgish Presidency of the Council following the successful meeting which was organised together with the European Commission and the Finnish Presidency of the Council here in Luxembourg back in 2006 – nearly 10 years ago!
Today, Continuous Professional Development is more than ever a necessity: Faced by the challenges of an ageing population, the new diseases and the rapid development of new technologies, our health systems have to be responsive and capable to propose long term solutions to new needs and problems.
I support the organisers in their aim to promote high quality and innovative continuous professional development and I see this conference contributing to the broader policy aims of improving health care both at national and European level.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As the Luxembourg EU Presidency is slowly coming to an end, this is an excellent opportunity to share with you some key events and achievements we were able to contribute to in the field of continuous professional development over the last six months.
Firstly, we were pleased to host here, at the same venue, the Joint meeting of the EU Chief Medical Officers and Chief Nursing Officers on the 12th an 13th of October.
During one of the sessions dedicated to the training and continuing education of health professionals, the Commission presented its study “Review and mapping of continuous professional education and learning throughout life for health professionals in the EU”. I believe that the results of this study can provide helpful information for continuous professional development for doctors because both health professionals and doctors are equally confronted by the challenges presented by the workforce shortage due to an ageing population and the rise of chronic diseases.
Healthcare professionals will need to adapt to new ways of approaching patients. New patient needs and new health technologies require suitable training. They need to develop communication skills with patients to allow for an informed choice and shared decision making.
In other words, the objectives of the Commission’s study aiming to have a comprehensive and comparative overview on CPD in the European Union, to share good practice and facilitate discussion among policy-makers, regulatory and professional bodies could form an interesting basis for the general discussions on continuous professional development.
Secondly, CPD was also addressed in relation to the two main public health priorities of the Luxembourgish EU-Presidency, namely personalised medicine and dementia.
I am proud to announce today that we succeeded to adopt Council conclusions in both fields by the EU health ministers during their Council on 7 December 2015.
In the Conclusions on personalised medicine you can read that “Member States are invited to provide education, training and continuous professional development for health professionals in order to equip them with the necessary knowledge, skills and competences to make the most of the benefits that personalised medicine brings to patients and healthcare systems and to ensure appropriate decision making on treatment options”. The European Commission is called upon to facilitate exchange of good practices between Member States in this regard.
In the Conclusions on supporting people living with dementia, Member States and the Commission are invited to take forward discussions at national and EU level on the need to promote the role and continuing education of health professionals to ensure the best possible support for people living with dementia and their families.
Let me clarify that in these conclusions the term “health professionals” includes also members of the medical staff.
I would like to say that, by including CPD in both our priorities and Council conclusions, both Luxembourg as the rotating Presidency and all the Member States showed their commitment and willingness to recognise an important role to CPD in improving best care to these patients groups and for health care in general.
To conclude, I would like to express my sincere hope that with this conference, we will learn more about the different ways to bring forward CPD management, accreditation and the relevant regulatory framework so that CPD may contribute on a long term basis to high quality of care and patient safety.
There is a real need to develop knowledge about how to respond best to patients’ expectations and needs. And the strengthening of continuous professional development is one answer.
Last but not least I would like to thank the European Medical Organisation and the national medical doctors association “Association des Médecins et Médecins-dentistes du Luxembourg” for organising this conference and wish them a successful work for the years to come.
I look forward to seeing the results of your discussions!
Thank you for your attention."