Building on the previous Summits held in Madrid, Dublin, London and Warsaw, the European Biosafety Network organised its 5th Summit in the European Parliament in Brussels on 3rd June 2015. Hosted by MEP Glenis Willmott the meeting brought together over 60 participants to Brussels policy-making environment to discuss how the Directive on prevention of sharps injuries in the hospital and health care sector (2010/32/EU), published in 2010, can be better implemented in all the EU Member States. The political discussion focussed on the risk of sharps injuries in long-term care, home and community care and identified the gaps for further improvement, even in other sectors outside the hospital environment. Broadening the scope of the Directive could be “an opening of the Pandora box”, with the risk of losing all efforts done now the Junker Commission is eager to arrange things without regulation. A Joint Declaration with the Social Partners is therefore an important signal to keep the protection of the health workforce high on the political agenda.
Participating in the event, the EFN General Secretary took this opportunity to highlight that quite recent data on the implementation of the Directive Clauses show that education and training, next to risk assessment and engagement of staff, frontline, in policy design stays a huge challenge. It is therefore important for the Commission to measure legislative compliance and impact in the workplace. Political complacency kills frontline! The EFN also urges the EU Stakeholders to move forward with more practical solutions and make sure that the Directive 2010/32/EU gets implemented in daily practice. Taking into account austerity measures in the healthcare sector (cuts) we need to strengthen our collaboration and hopefully through an initiative/project we can achieve change!