By Marilène Filbet, President EAPC 2005-2007
Presented at the General Assembly of the EAPC 20 April 2006, Dublin, Ireland
Board of Directors
The board of directors has met twice in 2005 and consisted of Marilène Filbet (President), Philip Larkin (Vice- President), Lukas Radbruch (Vice- President), Andre Rhebergen (Secretary), Silvio Necchi (Treasurer), Augusto Caraceni, Carlos Centeno, David Clark, Pam Firth, Tine De Vlieger, Lucie Hacpille, Katalin Hegedus, Stein Kaasa and Françoise Porchet.
Executive Committee
The Executive Committee has met twice and consists of the following elected members: Andre Rhebergen, Marilène Filbet and Philip Larkin. Heidi Blumhuber and Franco De Conno from the Head Office in Milan also attended.
Head Office
The Head Office is based at the National Cancer Institute in Milan, Heidi Blumhuber is the Executive Officer and Amelia Giordano the Deputy Officer. Over the past year, Heidi has dedicated her time to the organisation of the 4th Research Forum, which was held in Venice, Italy in May 2006. To be able to meet the daily management needs, the Executive Committee agreed that Amelia Giordano should commence fulltime employment effective immediately.
EAPC finances
In 2005, the EAPC covered all its costs and the remainder has been added to a savings account to cover any potential negative results. The Aachen Congress contributed a substantial amount to cover running costs for 2005–06. For 2006, the income will cover the expenses and should permit additional further reserves to be accumulated.
Communication resources
www.eapcnet.org
The EAPC website has undergone substantial updates and structural changes during 2005. Examples include the new task force development pages, information on the World Hospice and Palliative Care Day and a congress section with details about future bids. The Latest News sections has been reactivated to offer continual updates to users. In March 2006, a discussion forum was launched by Lukas Radbruch. The online database enables a distinction to be made between members and registered users who wish to access all documents and receive updates.
Journals
The EAPC Board met with the publishers of the European Journal of Palliative Care (EJPC) and the Editorial Board has been revised with substantial participation from EAPC Board members. Andrew Hoy remains the Editor, with Deputy Editors Carol Davis (UK) and Philippe Poulain (France). The EJPC contains the EAPC news and views, which is also published as PDF files on the EAPC website. The abstract books of the EAPC Congresses have been published by the EJPC since 2001. Members are invited to subscribe to the journal and actively contribute with articles.
Palliative Medicine (PM) is the scientific journal of EAPC, with the EAPC Honorary President, Geoffrey Hanks, as the Editor. The abstracts of the EAPC Research Forum, Stresa 2004 and Venice 2006 are published as a part of PM.
EAPC projects (task forces)
Ethics task force on palliative care and euthanasia
The Chair of the task force, Lars Johan Materstvedt, has published a paper about the work of the task force in the EJPC. This paper is available as a pdf download at: www.eapcnet.org/ projects/ethics.asp
Task force on nursing education
The report is available from the EAPC head office as a printed supplement and the recommendations can also be downloaded from the website: www.eapcnet.org/projects/nursing education.asp, together with an editorial published in the EJPC and PM.
Task force on education for physicians
The task force met once in the last year. The final version of the EAPC recommendations for physicians training at undergraduate level and for specialisation have been concluded. The undergraduate version has been circulated to an international advisory board for comments. They also met during the Research Forum in Venice.
Task force on palliative care development in Europe
This task force is a collaboration between four institutions: the EAPC, the International Observatory in End of Life Care, Help the Hospices and the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care. The core group met three times in 2005. Data collection is finished and the results are undergoing quality control. Early results and reports were presented at the Venice forum. The publication of the results in the form of a book, CD and on the website is foreseen. The task force has been facing problems funding their work. A meeting with the Executive Committee (EC) was organised. Considering the work achieved so far, the EC agreed to finance the group 3,500 euros from the 2006 budget. Additional costs still need to be met before the completion of the project.
Task force CEE & FSU Newsletter
As a continuation of the EAPC-East initiative, the Central and Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Union (CEE & FSU) Newsletter has been developed by the Hungarian Hospice-Palliative Association (HHPA) in collaboration with the Open Society Institute and the EAPC, with the aim of developing palliative care in Eastern Europe. To date, 14 issues with ten country reports have been published and circulated to the registered readers. The readership for the English version is an average 600–1,200 readers per month and for the Russian version about 60–120 readers. All issues of the newsletter are available at: www.eapcnet.org/ CeeFsuNlt/index.html
Task force for the establishment of an EAPC ladder for Palliative Care Delivery
The task force on ‘Centres of Excellence’, established at the beginning of 2005 with the aim of defining what is expected of such centres and to facilitate a network of these centres within Europe, was renamed the Task force for the establishment of an EAPC ladder for Palliative Care Delivery for services and settings.
Task force on Paediatric Palliative Care
The Paediatric Palliative Care (PPC) Task Force has three main objectives: to identify agencies providing palliative care to children across Europe; to produce a directory of such services accessible from anywhere in Europe; and to consider with the EAPC how to work with the agencies to support them in their work with children. It is proposed that a special symposium about PPC will be held at the EAPC Congress in 2007.
New task forces
EPSO – European Palliative clinical placement programme
Corry van Tol agreed to chair the EPSO task force that has the following aims: to create a European directory of educational and training opportunities for palliative care professionals; to create guidelines for prospective applicants to the placement programmes; and to offer applicant selection criteria (briefing documents) to prospective learning centres. The task force met during the Venice Congress to discuss progress.
National Associations Organisational Development Task Force
The EC received a proposal from Help the Hospices to establish a National Associations Organisational Development Task Force, with the aim of supporting the development of European national associations through a survey of national association governance and organisational development arrangements; the establishment of a national association tool kit; and network meetings and seminars focusing on advocacy, funding, information and areas of common concern. The EC welcomed this task force and proposed Philip Larkin, EAPC Vice-President, and Amelia Giordano to be part of the steering group.
Collaboration with other organisations
Council of Europe
The EAPC is recognised as a nongovernmental organisation (NGO) by the Council of Europe. Maurice Chausson (Director of the Association Pierre Clement based in Strasbourg, and Member of the board of the Societé Francaise d’accompagnement de soins palliatifs) stood down as the EAPC official representative at the Council of Europe. The EAPC would like to express its thanks for his efforts. Andre Rhebergen, his official replacement, stepped in and attended the last meeting of the International Non- Governmental Organisations (INGO) of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.
ESMO
An initiative has been started to promote collaboration between the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the EAPC, with the overall aim of improving patient care, as well as exploring collaboration in teaching and research.
Raphael Catane from Israel has been appointed as the ESMO contact and Stein Kaasa represents the EAPC. At the 4th Research Forum, a joint session on ‘Palliation with oncological treatment’ took place. Carl Johan Fürst, the Scientific Chair of the next 10th EAPC Congress, is in discussion about future joint sessions.
IAHPC: Research in developing and developed countries – a joint initiative of EAPC and IAHPC
At the 4th Research Forum in Venice, the EAPC and the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC) joined forces to collaborate and initiate a global strategy to promote and initiate research in developing countries. Other regional associations such as the Asia Pacific Hospice and Palliative Care Network (APHPC), the African Palliative Care Association (APCA), the Latin America Association of Palliative Care (ALCP), the Eastern and Central Europe Palliative Task Force (ECEPT), Palliative Care Australia and the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) participated in a joint meeting and discussed the need for worldwide collaboration.
This process is important not only for developing countries, which need to identify their own research agenda based on the characteristics and needs of their patient population and the challenges they face; it will be as important for developed countries to reflect their research priorities and needs assessments against other cultures and settings, thereby evaluating the use of resources and identifying gaps and neglected areas.
Help the Hospices
EAPC are pleased to announce a joint venture with Help the Hospices for the organisation of the World Hospice and Palliative Care Day (WHPCD), on 7 October 2006. Marilène Filbet, President of the EAPC, was appointed as the new chair of the WHPCD organising committee.
The purpose of the event is to create a unified day of action to celebrate and support hospice and palliative care around the world.
WHPCD will provide an opportunity to raise awareness on key issues such as increasing the availability of hospice and palliative care, raising awareness and understanding of the needs of people living with a terminal diagnosis and their families, and raising funds to support and develop hospice and palliative care services around the world.
International Psycho-oncology Society (IPOS)
A symposium entitled ‘Pain at the end of life: the response is not only medication’, has been organised by the EAPC and IPOS at the 8th World Congress of Psycho-oncology to be held in Venice, 18–21 October 2006. Marilène Filbet, Augusto Caraceni and Stein Kaasa are involved in this session.
EAPC membership
There are currently 526 members eligible to vote at the annual general meeting, representing 41 countries. Two hundred and sixty-eight are collective member representatives and 258 are individuals.
EAPC Research Network
The overall aim of the EAPC Research Network is to promote quality and quantity of research within palliative care in Europe. The 4th EAPC Research Forum took place in Venice in May 2006. Five hundred and seventy-five abstracts were received. Of those, 114 had been selected for oral presentation and 385 had been accepted as posters. Over a thousand participants attended. The 5th Research Forum will be held in May or June 2008 in Trondheim, Norway.
There are several ongoing projects within the research network: palliative assessment tools, a computerised palliative assessment tool (PAT-C), European pharmacokinetics, an opioid study (European Pharmacogenetic Opioid Study [EPOS]), validation of consciousness level in palliative care, and the cross-sectional survey. One paper from the cross-sectional survey has been published in PM. The final draft of the paper of the expert group on ‘Fatigue in palliative care patients’, chaired by Lukas Radbruch, was presented in Venice.
EAPC future congresses
10th EAPC congress 2007
The 10th EAPC Congress will be held on 7–9 June 2007 in Budapest, Hungary.
Important dates for your diary: on 1 September 2006 the online abstract submission opens, and will close on 30 November 2006.
Carl Johan Fürst and Katalin Hegedus are the Chairs of the Scientific Committee and the Local Organising Committee respectively.
Plenary lectures will cover key aspects of palliative care and its development, and future challenges. The lectures will include a plenary in memory of Virgilio Floriani, ‘The Floriani Lecture’ and an EAPC award lecture will be presented by a distinguished contributor to palliative care development.
The plenary lectures will be published in full by the EJPC and will be distributed to all conference delegates. The main topics of the congress and the plenary lectures are as follows:
- Complementary medicine – what is the evidence for palliative care?
- A global perspective of palliative care
- Cultural and religious aspects
- Education and learning – an integral part of palliative care
- Pharmacology – new developments
- Loss in the family
- Palliative care for children
- Quality of palliative care – to prove and to improve
- Resilience in palliative care – changing perspectives
- Sedation, physician assisted suicide and euthanasia – still on the agenda
- The cognitively impaired, classification, diagnosis and treatment
- Symptom control.
During the Congress, the elections for the new EAPC Board of Directors for the period 2007–11 will take place.
11th EAPC congress 2009
The Austrian Society for Palliative Care has been successful in bidding for the 11th EAPC Congress to be held in Vienna in 2009. Professor Hans Georg Kress, Head of the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care at the Medical University of Vienna, will be the Chair of the Scientific Committee.
Next General Assembly
This will be held in April 2007; the venue is to be decided.
Welcome to Trondheim
Research is the basis for improvement in healthcare, and palliative care should become as evidence-based as the rest of the medical field. The EAPC Research Forum has been growing in size since the first forum in Berlin in 2000.
Palliative care is complex and challenging, and so is research within this area. Various professions take part in the research, and collaboration between professions, nations and countries are factors for success.
We want to bring together the best researchers and clinicians in palliative care at our research forum in Trondheim in 2008. You will be given the opportunity to meet other experts, to present and discuss research and to get new ideas, new insight into complex challenges and new information on how to improve patient care.
The scientific content of the programme is primarily based on submitted abstracts. Therefore, prepare to submit your most up-to-date research to the EAPC Research Forum in 2008. The course will be CME accredited. We look forward to welcoming you to Trondheim in 2008.