About EBP

The European Board of Paediatrics is the Executive of the Paediatric Section of the UEMS (UEMS-SP), and so is formally part of the UEMS. It sits within the European Academy of Paediatrics, but has to follow the Statutes and rules of the UEMS, and this is important especially in terms of voting and decisions made by the Board. These must be ratified by the General Assembly of the EBP (see below). The Officers of the EBP include the Chairperson (who is ex officio Vice-President of EAP), the EBP Treasurer and other persons that EBP may co-opt, including a lead for examinations, and a training accreditation lead.

The formal statutes concerning UEMS Boards can be found here, and a diagram of the structure is here.  The key role is to maintain the highest possible standards of training in Paediatrics across Europe and the primary output from the Board is therefore European Training Requirements (ETRs) which list the syllabus, trainee assessment methodology, and trainer and training centre requirements. These ETRs are developed within jointly between the EBP and European specialist societies, and once complete are voted on at a General Assembly meeting of the EBP. They are then submitted to a council meeting of the UEMS for adoption at which time they are officially recognised.

The EBP General Assembly – which is dealing with UEMS issues – is also governed by their rules and statutes. This requires the voting to be confined to UEMS National Delegates only (one country, one vote) and other delegates (such as sub-specialty liaison officers) are not able to take part in the formal vote, although are of course very involved in the discussions and preparation of the ETRs. As the list of countries included within UEMS is different from the more expanded list of countries within the EAP, the two General Assemblies (EAP and EBP) are separated from each other and have different agenda.

The EBP is also involved in other activities related to the UEMS. We have a major role in developing exams (especially in ‘core’ paediatrics as specialist exams are often developed within the specialty groups) and are responsible for overseeing training centre visits and accreditation. We also coordinate paediatric presence on Multidisciplinary Joint Committees (MJCs) that are set up by the UEMS to address training issues that fall between different sections of the UEMS. As the UEMS-SP we are entitled to request representation on such committees – as are national bodies and specialist societies.

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