CPME Board meeting

“ The CPME has adopted a set of comprehensive policy statements stressing the importance of evidence based decisions, highlighting the importance of social inclusion in mental health policy, the dangers of second-hand smoking and taking a stand in solidarity with Slovak doctors currently pressured by their own state authorities which imposed a state of emergency.“

CPME President, Dr Konstanty Radziwill

At the CPME Board meeting on 26 November 2011, CPME adopted the following policies:

 The CPME Statement on Mental health, combating stigma and social exclusion highlights the risks for stigma and social exclusion faced by mental health patients. It recommends actions for improvement that can be addressed in multiple settings such as the community, workplaces, education and society. Doctors should be equipped with the relevant knowledge and skills by integrating mental health in curricula both at the pre- and postgraduate level of medical training. CPME furthermore recommends support not only to patients with mental health problems but to their carers/family, a commitment expressed also in the Strategic Implementation Plan on Active and Healthy Ageing, a major policy initiative at European level.

 The CPME Policy on Smoking in the Presence of Children advocates the right of every child to live and grow up in a smoke free environment. CPME believes that behavioural change is key as a first step to render the practice of smoking in the presence of children and pregnant women socially unacceptable. The introduction of measures to discourage smoking in the presence of children and pregnant women as complementary action could improve effectiveness

 The CPME Statement on Health Technology Assessment (HTA) in relation to Cross-Border Healthcare reaffirms CPME’s strong support for HTA and recommends the involvement of physicians as relevant stakeholders at national and EU level. HTA should be used in order to ensure patient centred and effective health policies, provide decision makers with more accurate, evidence-based tools for prioritising healthcare treatments in terms of their utility, efficiency and cost-effectiveness. CPME also highlights the need to give ethical and social considerations a prominent role in HTA.

 The CPME Position on the legislative proposal for a Regulation on European Standardisation underlines CPME’s strong support for the exclusion of healthcare services from the Regulation’s scope, in order to ensure that the quality of healthcare and patient safety is adequately and professionally protected and not just a matter of a technical standard. On the other side, CPME supports other innovations proposed by the legislative proposal in relation to eHealth interoperability and stakeholder involvement.

 Against the background of urgent developments, the CPME General Assembly discussed the critical situation of doctors in Slovakia, who face severe pressure from the government. CPME expressed its shock with regard to President Gasparovic’s recommendation to use force against the Slovak doctors in case of failure of salary negotiations and adopted a declaration expressing its unanimous protest against this action.

All CPME policy documents are available at: http://www.cpme.eu/policy.php

For more information, please contact:

Birgit BEGER CPME Secretary General Tel.: +32 2 732 72 02 Fax: +32 2 732 73 44 e-mail: secretariat@cpme.eu

For more information about CPME, consult our website: http://www.cpme.eu