The EFN governance body led to successful policy outcomes (Madrid on 20-21 October 2016), creating opportunities to focus down on the EFN key lobby priorities and providing the mandate to lobby the European Institutions.
The EFN members (Belgium & Netherlands) took this opportunity to highlight the professionalism of the nurses after the attacks to the Brussels Airport & metro station Maelbeek on 22 March, and for the extraordinary work they are undertaking in the conflict zones, where no else wants to go, working in very difficult and dangerous circumstances. The EFN members recognise the urgent need for our nurses to be protected and getting more support in all those conflict areas, so they can continue in helping the population and be as safe as possible, and call on the international organisations to recognise more the frontline work of nurses.
Coming back to the politics, the EFN members’ main debate during the General Assembly was around education (a main concern for most of them, with some governments wanting to downgrade nursing education) and the state of art of the implementation of the Directive on mutual recognition of professional qualifications (Directive 2013/55/EU), still in the process of being implemented in the EU countries, and the development of a Delegated Act to update Annexe V of the Directive, together with the European Nursing Regulators Network, next to the need to connect Article 31 of the Directive with the EFN Competency Framework developed to help implementing the Directive at school level. The EFN keeps on lobbying the Commission and Member States to get things done and will make an evaluation of the implementation in due time as also the European Commission will be doing.
Also crucial in the EU debate for nurses, the EFN members approved two Position Papers & Policy Statements: 1/ on Nurses combatting Antimicrobial Resistance, which will support the EFN in developing future strategies and evidence on the impact that nurses have on Antimicrobial Resistance; 2/ on the Nurses Contribution to the European Semester, which calls on the national and European policy-makers to acknowledge the importance of investing in health, with a more efficient health and social care funding allocation and better working conditions for the nursing workforce, building on existing integrated care ecosystems throughout the EU.
Furthermore, the General Assembly discussed and endorsed the revised EFN Strategic and Lobby Plan 2014-2020, indicating EFN is well on track of its planned political outcomes. EFN members also had the opportunity to share their national key political concerns during the Tour de Table. It is important nurses understand not only their own challenges, at home, but also the ones of their neighbours. As such, collecting the data in the Tour de Table, analysing synergies and summarising findings is quite important to better understand the reality and accordingly, fit it to policy making.
Interesting, the General Assembly, for the second time, approved new members joining EFN. We welcome the Belgian AUVB-UGIB to EFN, representing national nurses associations and specialists groups. Welcome to the EFN family! We look forward to more members coming in to create at EU level that ‘United Voice for Nurses’.
Finally, the EFN Members elected new members of the Executive Committee: Vice President – Elizabeth Adams (Ireland) and three members of the Executive Committee: Veronika Di Cara (Czech Republic), Sineva Ribeiro (Sweden) and Janet Davis (UK). Welcome! We also thank Grazyna Wojcik for her hard work in the Executive and Workforce Committee.