The Delegated Act that updates the Annexe V of Directive 2013/55/EU has now been published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The EU Member States need now to implement it into their national legislation by March 2026.
As the Directive 2013/55/EU provides the European Commission with delegated powers to introduce possible updates, the European Commission (DG GROW) commissioned a study (Spark), in 2018, assessing whether the minimum training requirements of the Professional Qualifications Directive for the profession of nurse responsible for general care required an update in view of generally acknowledged scientific and technical progress.
The EFN has worked on this Delegated Act for many years (since 2017), through namely the SPARK Study commissioned by DG GROW. The key outcome is that the nursing curricula need now to comply with the Directive 2013/55/EU and specifically the article 31 with 8 competencies and now also the updated Annexe V topics. This is a huge progress to protect the nursing profession and nursing education in the EU!
As mentioned in the European Pillar of Social Rights principle 1 ‘Education, training and lifelong learning’, “everyone has the right to quality and inclusive education, training and life-long learning in order to maintain and acquire skills that enable them to participate fully in society and manage successfully transitions in the labour market”. For the EFN, representing 3 million nurses in the EU, it is crucial to have high qualified nurses, to guarantee the quality of care and patient safety in the EU and Europe.
The EU Directive 2005/36/EC on Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications (amended by Directive 2013/55/EU) is key to any future EU policy development on EU workforce for health. Therefore, the publication of the updated annexe V through a delegated act, to which the EFN members largely contributed, is more than welcome.