Record number of abstract submissions for EAHP's 2013 Congress in Paris
 

A record number of hospital pharmacists have submitted abstracts  to be considered for presentation during the 18^th Congress of the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists, to be held in Paris from the 13^th to 15^th March 2013.

Well over 900 abstracts were submitted for the consideration of EAHP’s Scientific Committee by the close of the deadline on 15 October. The Committee will now begin the process of scrutinising content and quality and selecting those to be displayed in the form of posters at the Paris Congress.

EAHP Chief Operating Officer and Congress organiser Jennie De Greef said:

“We are very pleased at the increasing number of hospital pharmacists who want to share their studies and findings with the broadest audience of professional colleagues by displaying abstract posters at the EAHP Congress. Sharing best practise and encouraging innovation and improvement in hospital pharmacy is what our Congress, and our Association, is all about.

“The structure and detail of the 2013 Congress Programme is really starting to take shape now and we look forward to announcing more details about the keynote speakers and seminars in the coming weeks.

“In the meantime, I would like to remind hospital pharmacists of the savings they can make by registering to attend the Congress before 1 December 2012. There are just 6 weeks left to benefit from our early rate so please don’t delay!”

More information about the 2013 Congress, registration and the draft scientific programme are available here.

John Dalli resigns as EU Health Commissioner
 

John Dalli has resigned as the European Union’s Commissioner for Health and Consumer matters with immediate effect.

His resignation comes following an investigation by OLAF, the EU's anti-fraud office. OLAF investigated a complaint made in May by Swedish Match, a tobacco firm. The company alleged that a Maltese entrepreneur had tried to affect legislation, particularly relating to the EU's ban on the export of snus, a smoke-free tobacco used widely in Sweden.

Although the OLAF report did not find any conclusive evidence of the direct participation of Mr Dalli in the matter it did consider that he was aware of the events. Following the report Mr Dalli decided to resign “in order to be able to defend his reputation and that of the Commission."

European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic will take over the portfolio of Mr Dalli on an interim basis until a new Commissioner of Maltese nationality is appointed.

Commission statement here.

Commission seeks persons to provide advice on effective health investment

The European Commission is seeking applications from individuals interested in becoming members of a new European level panel tasked with providing high level advice on effective ways of investing in health.

The Commission explicitly state that their desire is to form a panel that collectively covers “the widest possible range of disciplines”, seeking a range of expertise sets, including:

• hospital and health care management
• health care provision
• health planning and budget prioritisation
• health services research, and
• health education and promotion

Any hospital pharmacists with an interest in membership of this panel should ensure their online application is submitted by 23 November 2012.

More information here.

EJHP: Drug Manufacturing in Danish Hospital Pharmacies

Published this week on the online first section of the EJHP website is a report from Denmark on the approach taken in that country to drug manufacturing in hospitals.

The article, written by Inger Bjeldbak-Olesen of Roskilde Hospital Pharmacy (Region Zealand), explores issues such as:

• the use of Good Manufacturing Practise (GMP);
• manufacturing documentation, including the use of electronic systems;
• the Danish national strategy for hospital pharmacy manufacturing; and
• the use of robots and semi-automatic tools in drug manufacturing.

The full article is available here.