The EFN had on 16 January a successful Executive Committee meeting, with key policy-makers invited to exchange views on crucial topics for nurses and the nursing profession, namely Patient Empowerment and CPD with Nathalie Chaze and Caroline Hager from DG Sanco and standards in nursing care with Cinzia Missiroli, Unit Manager Sustainability & Services from the Committee of European Standardisation.
In terms of outcomes, the Executive Committee approved: the EFN Manifesto for the EU elections to be used by all the EFN Members to lobby their national candidates to the European Parliament; the EFN Activity Report 2013; and the Policy Statement and Position Paper on Investing in Health, which follows on from the 2013 Annual Growth Survey that recognises the contribution of health for a job-rich recovery and establishes the role of health as integral component to the Europe 2020 strategy.
The Executive Committee discussed furthermore the EFN report on the 4 categories in nursing care and how the collected data can redesign of the Joint WHO-EUROSTAT-OECD questionnaire based on ILO ISCO-08 Code. It is clear that we cannot plan and forecast if the data collected are biased. The EFN Executive Committee equally exchanged views on “Standards in healthcare” and how nurses can influence the design of these standards. These questions related to “qualitative data to plan the workforce” and “standards of care” will be discussed further at the next EFN General Assembly, to take place on 9-10 April 2014, in Brussels.
