Establishment of the European Parliament’s Intensive Care Interest Group
At the start of the new year, we would like to announce important developments for the intensive care community.
As you know, we have been working relentlessly for the past years to raise awareness of the challenges faced by our community at the European political level. These efforts have seen many successes, among others, with ESICM becoming the provider for the C19_SPACE training programme funded by the EU and building close working relationships with EU institutions, keeping an open dialogue and allowing us to represent you where it truly counts.
We have tirelessly stressed the need for attention to be given to the topic of Europe’s ICUs. As experience has shown with Intensive Care Medicine, provoking the right conversations in policy circles has the potential to save lives.
Today we are delighted to share some of the ways in which our efforts have come to fruition. Last week, ESICM was invited by the French Government to participate in a high-level meeting of European health ministers within the context of the French Presidency of the Council of the EU. During that meeting, a video summarising the C19_SPACE programme was shown as a positive example of EU support in healthcare, for which we received much positive feedback and interest from the ministers.
Meanwhile, in the European Parliament, we have had the honour to participate in the formation of an ‘Interest Group’ dedicated to Intensive Care Medicine, which will create a space for dialogue and cooperation between the Intensive Care Medicine community and Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).
This group is composed of a group of MEPs from all over the political and geographical spectrum. Together with them, ESICM seeks to bring to the forefront of the political debate the most pressing issues facing the Intensive Care Community, guaranteeing a well-deserved space in the policy dialogue.
The much-hyped but still nascent European Health Union can only reach its full potential with the close cooperation of intensivists, and Intensive Care Medicine needs the EU in order to improve the standards of care for Europe’s citizens. The Interest Group on Intensive Care Medicine will act as the nexus between lifesavers and policymakers, bringing unique expertise to the debate around EU health policy.
The launch meeting of this interest group is foreseen for the 25th of January, and we are very much looking forward to informing you regularly about its work. It is an initiative created for you, so please, if you have any suggestions on the topics that this Interest Group could discuss, don’t hesitate to share them with us.
For any questions you may have or concerns you would like raised with MEPs in the Interest Group on Intensive Care Medicine, please contact the Interest Group’s secretariat at epic-ig@esicm.org.
