Minutes of the General Assembly

Meeting held at O’Callaghan Davenport Hotel, at 10:30 hrs on the above date

1. PRESIDENT’S REPORT

• TS welcomed all delegates to the meeting
• There were no comments on the final agenda, therefore it’s approved.
• TS introduced three new delegates – Lenneke Schrier (Netherlands), Representative European Junior Doctors; Wilhelm Kaulfersch (Austria); and Berthold Koletzko (Germany), Representing EPSGHAN.
• TS congratulated Maximilian Zach as he will be leaving EAP.
• TS mentioned that the EC discussed the finances of the EAP UEMS and he will update all members at the Winter Meeting 2016.

2. SECRETARY GENERAL REPORT

 Website 

• AH advised that the new website is up and running, but it still needs content. He hopes the delegates will provide content for the website and asked them to review the site for their comments.
• AH stated that the mailing list of the members’ area (password protected) will be uploaded and can be accessed.

European Journal of Paediatrics

• AH advised that as of 1^st January, 2017, the collaboration with the European Journal of Paediatrics will take effect.
• AH mentioned that the EAP will be able to publish 6 new peer-reviewed statements per year in the journal. All GA members are invited to prepare the statements, in particular the Chairmen of the Permanent Councils and Working Groups (WG) should develop a first statement and to have them published in the beginning of 2017.
• AH advised the individual members will have access to the journal. The rest of the delegates will need to be discussed with the EC whether EAP will provide access to the electronic version.
• EAP will check the possibility of hyperlinking the journal to the next newsletter.

 Colgate

• AH said Prof. Ekstrand’s presentation will be uploaded to the EAP Website and the abstract will be included in the next newsletter. 

• AH stated that EAP received an educational grant from Colgate. EAP will conduct a survey and find out the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of primary care paediatricians on oral health. The survey will be ready next week and will be available to all EAPRASnet members soon.
• AH advised the Live Webinar will be held on 14 September. For those who cannot attend, the Webinar can be accessed at any time. If we manage to attract many participants to the Webinar, we will repeat the survey to see if the webinar was successful to change the KAP of paediatricians.

European Medicines Agency (EMA) 

• AH stated that EAP has an official representative for the last 6-8 years. 
• EMA views EAP as a focal point for any issues related to Paediatrics. We have appointed EAP Members to join a number of committees within the EMA.

Action Items:

• All delegates were asked to review the site for their comments and are also invited to provide content for the website (by…..)
• All EAP members, in particular the Chairmen of the Permanent Councils and WGs’, are invited to prepare statements, to be published at the newsletter in the beginning of 2017 (by…..)
• EC to decide whether delegates who are not individual members are entitled to access the journal (by…..)
• EC to check the possibility of hyperlinking the journal to the next newsletter (by…..)

3. UEMS SECRETARY GENERAL REPORT

• VP thanked everyone for their invitation to the EAP Spring Meeting.
• VP stated that the main purpose of UEMS is to support EAP for its fantastic work.
• VP advised that the scope of accreditation of e-Learning Events at the moment is very limited, which is why it is very expensive. When it comes to version 2.0 which will be finished in the summer and approved in Brussels in October, the scope will be much broader, therefore the price is much more affordable.
• VP stated the UEMS cannot have legislative powers; it is an organization of volunteers. UEMS lobbies vigorously for this to be promoted.
• VP advised that UEMS organization is registered under the Belgium law and is a not-for-profit organization. The national medical associations are the full members who pay fees and have the voting rights. The sections of UEMS started as WGs’ of organizations, eventually they developed into very big organizations.  The fees paid by the European societies are for the operational needs of a section.. UEMS propose giving the sections a much stronger and influence compared to the current situation.

4. EBP CHAIRMAN REPORT

• JCM said EAP should collaborate with a specialist to produce an educational list from the RCPCH in order to assess general paediatrics as a first point of contact. JCM hopes that the first assessment will take place in 2018 in the EAPS Congress. This assessment will be appraised also by the UEMS CESMA and will reach good relations.
• VP stated that there is a platform already available to all sections. For example: Section of Surgery (London) have an electronic portfolio for submission of abstracts and payment which is developed over the last 2-3 years and it is working fantastically. It is not a property of one section or the other. This is a tool available within the UEMS. The same thing comes for the MCQs once you produce them. We have agreements with companies to do this electronically at very preferential prices to help you do it in a much faster and modern way. All these tools are available and no need to start from scratch to develop and agonize them.

5. TREASURER’S REPORT

• AV presented the EAP-UEMS financial report operated through the account in Bank Paribas Fortis (BPF, Brussels) and other EAP activities (education, research, networking) operated though the account in Bank International of Luxembourg (BIL, Luxembourg).
  The total income of the two EAP accounts for 2015 was 288,525.28 EUR
  The total expenses were 9,6787.15 EUR
  As of January 1, 2016, the final balance for all EAP accounts was 435,874.59 EUR (an increase of 44% during 2015)
• 37 countries from the EU, EEA and associate EU have paid their annual membership fees for 2015 (a few late payments were done at the beginning of 2016).
  Only Malta and Iceland did not pay.
  Macedonia, Montenegro and Ukraine paid as EAP associate members for the first time.
  EAP membership fees were collected in the official account of UEMS – BPF. A Total of 32,194.0 EUR was collected.
  As of January 1, 2016, the final balance for the EAP account at BPF was 79,068.95 EUR.
  The list of countries that paid their EAP annual duties and the complete EAP UEMS account report are published on EAP website.
• The EAP Programme account at the BIL has collected 174,213.0 EUR profit from the EAPS2014 in Barcelona and 1,672.51 EUR of contribution from the “RareBestPractice” project. Most expenses were for the organization of the EAP meetings:

• The Winter meeting 2014 , Brussels – 22,199.5 EUR
• The EC meetings – 8,591.89 EUR
• Permanent secretariat services (Paragon group) – 11,771.0 EUR
• The cost of the lawyer and public relations services was included in the EAP Service enlargement programme. This account was also used for the payment of the EAPRASnet projects, RareBestPractice educational activities, publications, travel grants of EAP2015 MasterCourse and EAP Winter meeting within EAP First step programme.

As of January 1, 2016 the final balance was 261,437.42 EUR.

• The EAP Individual Members account at the BIL has collected 9,327.61 EUR of Individual Members fees and 72,420.0 EUR profit from the EAP2015 MasterCourse in Oslo. Most expenses were related to the subscription of ADC which cost 9,741.83 EUR.
  As of January 1, 2016 the final balance was 95,368.22 EUR.
• The EAP 2015 financial report will be sent to the Belgian Company Intercompta for audit and submission to the Belgian Tax Authorities.

Action Items:

• AV will send the EAP 2015 financial report and the financial draft report for January – October 2016 to the EAP financial reviewers appointed by the GA, one month prior to the EAP Winter meeting. AV will present the reports at the 2016 EAP Winter meeting.
• After the EAP annual financial reports is evaluated by the EAP internal reviewers and accepted by the Belgian Tax Authorities, it will be published on the EAP website.
• The candidate country to organize the EAP Spring meeting should prepare a budget and indicate possible local sponsors. The budget must be presented to the EC three months prior to the meeting, while the final budget (financial report to EAP) must be presented within one month after the Spring Meeting.
• National Delegates and member societies are invited to submit applications for EAP educational sponsorship, small scale research and networking projects. Applications should be sent to the EC for further considerations. There is no deadline for application submission.

6. SHORT REPORTS FROM PERMANENT COUNCILS, WG, NETWORK PROJECTS

Primary and Secondary Care

• BW stated that it was concluded in the Winter Meeting that EAP was satisfied with how community level paediatric institutions are being observed. JZ, BW and Simon formulated a new paragraph which was scrutinized in yesterday’ meeting. It was voted and approved.
• BW wishes the GA assembly will approve this as well.
• KI advised that since the voting does not appear on the agenda, it is not constitutional to vote. People have not been able to prepare themselves for this vote.
• Voting: 14 were in favor; 2 sustained
• BW queried if EAP will promote subspecialty in primary care paediatrics. Primary and secondary care councils formed the group which is working on this since spring. No consensus was reached yesterday but will continue during the Winter Meeting in December.
• JZ mentioned that PS Council discussed the statement about passive smoking which was prepared by Jonas Ludvigsson, President Swedish Paediatric Society. The statement will be prepared in the beginning of autumn. We discussed the few problems of the Paediatric Primary Care on the peer level in the different countries.
• JZ stated there is a problem dealing with migrant children. We need to learn more about the method of approach to children with different social and cultural backgrounds. We have the MasterCourse next year in Ljubljana and would like to add this subject to the agenda.
• The curriculum for primary prepared by ECPCP was not passed to all delegates and members to read. First of all it should be approved by PS Councils and then can be brought to the general assembly. It has been endorsed by the GPEC, appears on their website homepage and was also translated to Spanish. It was discussed in the EC that EAP would perhaps pass it to all the delegates to read and consider it
• TS stated that the curriculum should be reviewed by the Primary and Secondary Care Permanent councils They should prepare the document and when accepted in the primary and secondary permanent to be sent out to all national delegates before voting on it. This is the same procedure as for all subspecialties’ documents.

Action Items – Primary and Secondary Care:

• The subject of “Approaching Children with Different Social and Cultural Backgrounds” to be added to the 2017 MasterCourse
• The curriculum for primary and secondary care should be prepared before the next spring meeting and distributed to all the national delegates to read and consider it before voting on it.

Tertiary Care

• TS advised that in Brussels the TWG discussed the rheumatology curriculum. It was endorsed with some changes which have been sent to RRR, who sent it out to the delegates.
• TS mentioned it was accepted in Brussels but we were going to have a vote today if we accept the new revised document of rheumatology.
• Vote was conducted and approved.
• TS stated that the UEMS Secretary Council is nominated by the national societies. Subspecialties Presidents are elected by the subspecialty sections due to their academic achievements and nominated by the Scientific Committee. For this reason the UEMS voting issue is problematic.
• VP mentioned the nomination comes by the scientific society but has to have the endorsement of the national medical association on top of it.

Rare Diseases

• TS stated there is a Disciplinary Committee on Rare Diseases at the UEMS. There are no representatives from paediatric fields. We learnt from the Secretary General UEMS that you don’t have to be a national delegate to be part of the Disciplinary Committee on Rare Diseases.
• TS suggests that LS should approach the Disciplinary Committee on Rare Diseases at the UEMS and ask what are the steps needed in order to be a part of the group.
• LS mentioned there is very much a need for interoperability for our healthcare systems, not only inside hospitals but also between hospitals, ambulatory care and rehabilitation centers and hopefully with patients. We have EAP involved in interoperability EU platform and rare disease registration which started in April.

Action Items – Rare Diseases:

• LS to approach the Disciplinary Committee on Rare Diseases at the UEMS and ask what are the steps needed in order to be a part of the group

EAPRASnet

• ZG reported one of EAPRASnet’s studies was published 2 months ago about Antibiotic Preference for Pneumonia among Paediatricians and GPs and a very positive response was received from the editor.
• A study about Electronic Health Records was conducted. A minor revision should be done and afterwards the study will be published.
• The manuscript on Migrant Survey is being written by Angel Carrasco. The outcome would be reported in Brussels.
• A future collaboration with ESPGHAN has been mentioned. It seems there will be collaboration             in projects that both sides have interest in.

Vaccination

• HJD spoke about The European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention that has an ambitious project about Electronic Immunization Records. He updated that EAP is invited to cooperate with them.
• HJD stated there is Communication with WHO regarding refugees vaccination – The Greece Problem.
• HJD mentioned the Measles Examination Problem in the German speaking countries in the Middle of Europe.
• HJD advised the next partner is Vaccines Europe which is the roof organization of all vaccines manufacturers on the topic of vaccines shortages. We had a very constructive         first exchange of mails and also were invited to work with them in this orientation group to maybe find solutions for the problem.
• HJD mentioned the Intra EAP Networking with the survey on vaccines residency.

Ethics

• David Neubauer mentioned that they have been discussing three new papers.
  a) The first one was prepared by Francis Crawley about the resolution on Doping in Sports in Children and Young Adults.
   b) The second one was prepared by Artur Mazur on Obesity and Media on the different    adverse behavior in children. Some amendments needs to be made and will be ready in
   c) Third one was prepared by Lisbeth Siderius on Disabled Children in Sports.

European Medicines Agency Workshop

• The EMA workshop on extrapolation of efficacy and safety in medicine development across age group was organized in London two weeks ago. JZ participated and he is reporting.
• The background of the workshop is to avoid unnecessary studies in the target population for ethical reasons, for efficiency, and to allocate resources to areas where studies are the most needed. Additionally, in situations where the feasibility of studies are restricted, extrapolation principles may be applied for rational interpretation of the limited evidence in the target population in the context of data from other sources.
• The output of this workshop will be used for the finalization of the reflection paper on extrapolation across age groups by the Paediatric Committee (PDCO) of European Medicines Agency (EMA).
• The PDCO is responsible for coordinating the Agency’s work on medicines for children. The Committee’s main role is to determine the studies that companies must carry out on children as part of paediatric investigation plans (PIPs).
• JW and JZ will send the highlights of the workshop to the members of the GA and they will be published on the EAP website

7. LIAISON OFFICER REPORT

• Until February 2016 three statements were published and sent to 400 journalists. One statement presented EAP activities , one dealt with the Lancet published commentary and the third one was on the Migrants Issue.
• A “Press Room” was added to the website. The Councils and Working Groups are requested to assist in keeping it updated by creating new statements and documents that would be published on the EAP website.
• A new EU Report on EU Committees activity has been sent to all Delegates since January. A questioner was sent to the delegates: the majority have seen the EAP-EU Report and found it interesting.
• Cleverland proposed to conduct a two hour webinar/teaching seminar to 6-8 delegates during which core topics on children’s health will be discussed.
• The MOCHA Project’s advisory board have met in April. The project is proceeding according to the deadlines and initial results are expected in the next year. Mitch Bair, MOCHA Coordinator, will be invited to the EAP meeting in Brussels.
• EuroChild is organizing a very important meeting called “Children’s Rights Matter: Why Europe needs to invest in children”. Dr Armando Barillari will be present at the meeting on behalf of EAP.
• SDT has prepared an initial draft of EAP’s By-Laws, which was reviewed by Maximilian Zach. All EC members will review it by July and by October it will be sent to all delegates for review in order to have it approved by December 2016. \

Action Items:

• The Councils and Working Groups are requested to assist in keeping it updated by creating new statements and documents that would be published on the EAP website.

8. EAPS 2016 in Geneva

• TS thinks that the EAPS meeting should become annual since the biennial format is unsuitable for dealing with the continuing problems. Moreover, on his opinion it is more complicated to engage sponsors

9. EAP 2017 Congress and MasterCourse

• The meeting will be held on October 14-17, at the convention center in Ljubljana since it is very modern, spacious and surrounded by hotels
• The MasterCourse topic is “Infectious Diseases” and the chairman is Andrew Cant.
• TS highlighted that all the working groups should suggest ideas for the scientific program and the MasterCourse.

Action Items:

• All working groups should suggest ideas for the scientific program and the MasterCourse.

10. Spring Meeting 2017

• Anne Neves invited everyone to the Spring Meeting that will take place in Algarve, Portugal on May 12-13, 2017.

11. Winter Meeting 2016

• TS mentioned that the next Winter Meeting will be held in Brussels and wondered whether anyone objects that.
  No one objected.