Welcome (Nele): A short round of introductions was completed.
The ground rules were reiterated
We are a family
Time efficient contributions
All to be engaged in the activities of EURACT.
President’s report (Nele) (sent by email before the CM) - Approved
Honorary Secretary’s report of Spring meeting 2024 (Alex) (sent by email before the CM) - Approved
Report from EURACT representative on WONCA Europe Executive Board (Adam) (sent by email before the CM) – Report received and update from Dublin conference.
Approval of new members & countries (Alex) - Approved
Honorary Membership (1st) (Alex)
For outstanding contribution for members who have come to the end of their tenure
Nominated by 3 citations of less than 1 side A4 from 3 council members
Free membership of EURACT and no fee for EURACT Educational Conference. Not required to attend council meetings.
EURACT new communication manager (María Gómez Bravo): communication plan will be worked out during this Council Meeting.
Collaboration with UEMO & EJD – data on ST in Europe (Nele & Joachym): this fits in in our own project: see 9.
Data on all trainings (BME, ST & CME): process (Nele)
Task groups to collect data on the state of their special interest
Data to be analysed and a report published & accessible on the website
For review of the data every 2 years to ensure it keeps up to date.
EURACT & Policy (Alex)
Policy document highlighted
To strengthen recruitment and retention in European Primary Care through offering educational opportunities and writing educational standards documents for primary care education at all levels
Work on better interacting with policymakers reviewed and approved
To meet more with policy makers at Council Meetings, Conferences and Snowball sessions.
To co-ordinate with other relevant organisations concerned with primary care education and to do this at the next EB meeting in Brussels
Bled course 2024 (Vesna); Report received.
EUSIT (Vesna & Pavlo)
Report on work with smart glasses
Report on national Leonardo course level 1 held in Ukraine
WONCA Europe Conference Dublin 2024 (Alex) – report received
EURACT representation on WONCA board meeting carried out by Adam
Representation of EURACT at WONCA Europe on expert panel workshop on policy change
Leonardo Course level 3 (Razvan & Renzo) – report received. Next course 7-8 November 2024
EURACT Educational Conference in 2026, Iasi Romania (Razvan)
Probable date is 23-25 April 2026. Note council meeting takes place before this.
In Iasi, Romania
Location of conference building secured
Accommodation secured
Next Leonardo courses (Renzo) – Already covered
Next Council Meetings
Tbilisi, Georgia (Spring 2025, 3 to 5 April 2025)
Location TBD (Autumn 2025)- Applications encouraged – note: Marek applied to organise the meeting in Bratislava (Slovakia)
Iasi, Romania (Spring 2026) + Educational Conference
Würzburg, Germany (Autumn 2026)
EURACT trees. Report received
AOB: /
Update & specific requests from Committees and Task Forces (chairs)
BME; Update of work in progress.
ST; Update of work in progress
CME; Update on work in progress
MSC; Update on work in progress
Leonardo Courses taskforce; Update received
Relational competency taskforce; Update received
POCUS taskforce; Update received
Education materials taskforce; Update received
Next snowball 29th October
Report on Primary Care Montenegro received by Milena
Ceremony for first Honorary Member.
Francesco was thanked for his work as a council member who has completed the term of office and made outstanding contributions.
Meeting with Maria Gomez Bravo new communication manager re communication strategy Presentation received. Priorities
Try and retrieve old social media accounts (Maria)
If not then prioritise setting up new accounts targeted initially at the social media channels that council members use but then towards younger users in order to increase membership and exposure.
LinkedIn and Instagram were the most commonly used by members of the council. Usage of other social media channels was very low. Agreed a strategy is needed to address this.
To create a dedicated EURACT e mail account (Barbara & Maria)
Timeline of upcoming events (courses, meetings, conferences, snowball sessions) needed (EB)
Collaboration with key partners: UEMO, EPHA, WONCA Policy working group, EU and other relevant policy bodies.
Offering help for European-level grants (EB to discuss this) Discussion
What are our priorities? Clear that there is very low SM use
LinkedIn seems to be initial priority
Communication strategy with Maria outlined; e mails, shared drive needs setting up (Maria) calendar (EB) photos, quotes and short reports (Maria to ask from the relevant committee chairs)
Need to prioritise
A timeline of upcoming events
Newsletter
Updating website
How can we best use Marias time
Maria to use time to proactively chase information. Eg after snowball Pavlov and Arabelle to be contacted by Maria
Importance of timely communication emphasised.
Chairs of committees to report on what (if anything) needs communicating to Maria.
Newsletter should be in 1 side A4 format
Maria to ask chairs after the council meeting for information that then is co-ordinated into a newsletter. 2x/yr + Christmas edition with reminder for membership / fees and agenda of events for the year.
Outline timeline briefly discussed
Newsletter
Photos – consent needed
Dates for Snowball, Conference, Bled, Leonardo
Appointments made.
Survey data; Questionnaires were presented by BME, ST and CME committees and filled in by council members.
It was noted that this seemed to be a very efficient way of using council time: agreeing beforehand on what key tasks need carrying out and then allotting time at council meetings for this work to be done.
It was suggested that the approach could also be used in committee meetings. For example, agreeing on writing a report and then doing the literature search / data collection /analysis/ report writing in the committee.
More focus needed on outcomes from committee work, not necessarily discussions; a balance to be achieved.
4th EURACT Educational Conference:
Dates:
Council meeting 22-23 April 2026
Conference 23-25 April 2026
E mails to be sent seeking applicants for organising and scientific committees.
Small group work was then carried out exploring possibilities for themes and keynote speakers. E mail summaries to be sent to Alex
Themes / title ideas from small group work
Growing role of AI and digital ; implications for holistic care
Human vs Digital
Who may be excluded from the move to digital
What are the cultural implications of globalisation implicit in digital ways of working
Teaching core values : keeping the patient at heart in a time of change.
New skills to teach the new generation.
2-working on a draft of general timeline for tasks of Scientific and Organising Committees
Keynotes and other ideas
Representation from those outside GP education: Digital developers / enterprises, politicians, policymakers, philosophers, WHO
Panel idea; having an expert panel discussion
Giving voices to new people
Trainees
Students
Patients
Those outside medicine
People outside Europe
Possibility of workshop involving ideas about primary care education from influential groups from outside medicine: pharmaceutical companies, private education developers (eg Primary Care International), building developers, software companies, policy,
Creative part / ‘Fringe’; what would James Bond look like as a GP, Dragon’s Den, Apprentice, music, poetry, radical ideas (some of this perhaps in the coffee breaks / lunch)
Adequate space / time for networking
We had allready proposals for key note speakers, Denise wrote them down 4
Volunteers were requested for the conference committees Organising committee volunteers:
Denise, Joachim, Jachim, Razvan
Further discussion took place about a strategy for communication with communication manager
Timeline and people responsible for comms with comms manager outlined (see slide).
For reactive and proactive approach
Agreement with communication manager at end of council meetings during committee chair reports on the content for the newsletter. Chair reports need to be 2 slides (one outlining what the agreed outcomes were for the meeting (presented at the start of council), and one outlining how much work has been done during the committee sessions in achieving the outcomes). 5 minutes maximum for the verbal reports.
Google shared document with dates needs setting up and putting on the website (Maria)
Start simple and then refine process as we go approach.
Reports from committee and task force chairs
BME: Report received.
Current projects outlined: Finishing the paper on BME in Europe.
Anne was welcomed as new chair. Helena was thanked for her work as chair.
ST: Report received on current projects.
Data about ST curricula in Europe.
Black box of supervision projects
CME: Report received on current projects
CME database
EUSIT
Faculty development project: Literature review > survey > recommendations
MSC: Report received on current projects
Preparing EURACT information leaflet; paper and electronic
Member profile and satisfaction questionnaire
Leonardo and assessment courses: Reports received
Leonardo 3
Assessment Confirmed for Greece 2025
Leonardo 1 Possible beginning of 2026
Educational materials and methods: Report received
Snowballs:
29th Oct – End of Life
3rd Dec – Teaching emotions in GP work
28th Jan – Involving policy makers
25th Feb Difficult patients and learners
Developing snowball concepts
2 co-chairs
Google drive for relevant documents
Clear instructions for snowball structure: brief introduction, group work, plenary and action plan.
Relational competences; Report received
Discussions have taken place around defining the field and questions to answer in future meetings
POCUS: Report received
Large variations in provision. Compulsory now in some countries. To do: literature search + guideline for countries to get started with training in POCUS
Confirm that data from surveys needs to be in by Nov 1st.
Can we access materials from previous snowballs? Pavlo and Arabelle to ask Barbara and Burak if this material can be accessed and also to make a part of the website to house the materials. General issue of access and storage of educational materials.
Confirm that Barbara sends a list of the EURACT members of each country to each national representative 2x a year. Each member can download a certificate of membership themselves.
For committees and task forces: Reserve time for ‘doing’ in each session. Each group to state what they will ‘do’ for each meeting > then report on how much of this they have done.
For committee/task force reports. 2 slides (what were the tasks, how were they done) 5 minute presentations. They are too long at present.
How can we make sessions / meetings more active?
Can we combine council meeting with eg Leonardo? To discuss further in January.
General feeling that access to course material should be protected to reflect the effort that has gone into preparation. We think of the idea of using “teasers” at the website in order to make people think of becoming a member, follow a course, …
Policy agreement: All fees to be collected from now on electronically. Receipts to be collated by Burak. Without receipts confirming payment online, no reimbursement will be made. No further cash payments or payments to national representatives to take place.
Are there changes to be considered for upscaling / professionalising our work in the form of financial support for people in key roles. Engaging with policymakers and grant writing. Suggestion that at least 1hr be devoted to this at EB Brussels?/ Council meetings. Example of UEMO cited. The approach is: collect information, identify discrepancies and make recommendations. Then translate recommendations into the appropriate financial / resource model to resolve these issues. To collaborate? With UEMO re this. This might include:
Reimbursement for high level roles president / treasurer etc.
Reimbursement for training courses to be upscaled.
Training the trainers programmes. These trainers might have responsibility for regional hubs that deliver Leonardo courses regularly.
Becoming a not-for-profit organisation might help this.
To discuss rules about chairs and co-chairs at next EB
To propose AW as honorary member. Is still EURACT representative of WONCA Europe (2025). To invite AW to next council meeting to give report
Journal club; To stop temporarily.
Jan EB; arrangements outlined. Thursday to meet with policymakers. Friday EB meeting.
Elections; Normally a president elect for 1y. To contact Barbara about the relevant policy/mechanism.
Alex Harding Hon Sec October 2024
Participants:
Velho Denise (Portugal), Carelli Francesco (Italy), Simmenroth Anne (Germany), Saatci Esra (Turkey), Zarbailov Natalia (Moldova), Rieder Arabelle (Switzerland), Kolesnyk Pavlo (Ukraine), Catarivas Martine (Israel), Rrumbullaku Llukan (Albania), Kiknadze Nino (Georgia), Judith Maria van Es (Netherlands), Hansen Joachum Froelund (Denmark), Ortega Vila Yolanda (Spain), Adam Windak (Poland), Renzo de Gabriele (Malta), Milena Kostić (Serbia), Miftode Razvan Florentin (Romania), Vesna Homar (Slovenia), Nele Michels (Belgium), Alex Harding (UK), Joachim Bednar (Czech Republic), Helena Karppinen (Finland), Maria Gomez Bravo (Spain), Milena Cojić (Montenegro), Sonata Vravuolyte (Lithuania)
Published on 16 December 2024.
