EAHP represents over 29,000 hospital pharmacists across 36 member countries. EAHP represents and develops the hospital pharmacy profession within Europe in order to ensure the continuous improvement of care and outcomes for patients in the hospital setting. This is achieved through science, research, education, practice, as well as sharing best-practice and responsibility with other healthcare professionals.
The EAHP Board, elected for three-year terms, oversees the association’s activities. Comprising directors responsible for core functions, it meets regularly to implement strategic goals. Supported by EAHP staff, the Board controls finances, coordinates congress organization, and ensures compliance with statutes and codes of conduct.
The EAHP staff supports the Board in executing EAHP’s mission. The Staff assists in financial management, events organisations, policy activities and all EAHP projects. The EAHP staff works closely with EAHP’s members and ensures the effective communication all relevant stakeholders.
The first member countries were Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, the Federal Republic of Germany and The Netherlands in 1972. EAHP has now 36 EAHP members and 2 Associate Members. EAHP is open to countries members of the Council of Europe and since 2022 to organisations representing the interests of hospital pharmacists from outside the Council of Europe (Associate Membership)
EAHP’s structure is also composed by different standing committes: EAHP Scientific Committee, EAHP Education Executive Committee and the EAHP CTF Steering Committee.
At EAHP, we are committed to transparency in our governance, ethical standards, and funding practices. This section provides open access to our foundational documents, including the EAHP Statutes, Code of Conduct, and Funding Sources. By sharing these resources, we aim to uphold accountability and foster trust with our members, partners, and the public.
Keep up with all EAHP’s events and webinars. Contact the team at info@eahp.eu should you have any questions about upcoming events or activities.
Here you can find all upcoming events organised by EAHP and by all its members and associate members. Do not hesitate to contact the events team at events@eahp.eu should you have any questions about the organisation of these events.
Hospital pharmacists conduct a critical role in the care of patients in hospitals. Learn more about what they do here and in all the pages under Hospital Pharmacy practice and Policy.
Self-Assessment
SILCC
Closed SIGs
EAHP brings together experts from many areas of hospital pharmacy practice providing and highlighting good local sustainable practices as that can be up-scaled and shared with other countries. The EAHP Working Group on Sustainability has the aim of reducing the environmental burden of the hospital pharmacy services.
The European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP), and its 36 member country platforms are creating a Common Training Framework for the hospital pharmacy education in Europe. The goal of this project is to allow the free movement of hospital pharmacists within the European Union.
The European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) and the European Society of Clinical Pharmacy (ESCP) have collaboratively developed the Oath to Society. The Oath to Society is all encompassing and acts as a contract for excellence in providing compassionate patient care, working as part of the healthcare team and advancing the pharmacy profession, and showcasing how clinical and hospital pharmacists work every day
A day created to highlight the importance and to celebrate the work done by hospital pharmacies. This day celebrates all hospital pharmacy teams.
Catch up with EAHP’s press releases
Find all EAHP relevant publication like the EAHP Surveys, annual reports and the history books.
The European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy (EJHP) is the only official journal of the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) and is committed to advancing the science, practice and profession of hospital pharmacy. As the premier communication platform for hospital pharmacists worldwide, EJHP is a major source for continuing education as well as updates on advances in the practice and standard of pharmaceutical care for patients.
When EAHP and Hospital pharmacists appear in the news.
EAHP publishes a monthly EU monitor with updates about the latest EAHP initiatives and information relevant for the hospital pharmacy profession.
Sponsor Channel
The Sponsor Channel is designed to maximise visibility and engagement, allowing sponsors to connect with the hospital pharmacy community and partners in a dynamic and interactive environment. From product demonstrations to networking sessions, the Sponsor Channel offers a range of opportunities for sponsors to showcase their offerings and generate leads in the new EAHP Website.
Selection, Procurement and Distribution
The consumption of medicine for the treatment of wAMD, DME and RVO is increasing. The medicines used are in the top five of the most expensive drugs in Denmark. With the prospect of more patients, greater costs and the introduction of new drugs in the field, there was a need to develop a national treatment guideline.
An expert committee prepared a national treatment guideline including a clinical medicine comparison report for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD), diabetic macular oedema (DME) and retinal vein occlusion (RVO). The aim was to create uniform treatment across the country and to trigger competition between medicines in the hope of achieving lower prices.
An expert committee consisting of physicians, clinical pharmacist, clinical pharmacologist and medicine procurement pharmacist was appointed. The committee prepared a national treatment guideline including a clinical medicine comparison report based on existing clinical evidence and Danish practice. The committee reached the conclusion that the anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drugs ranibizumab and aflibercept are ranked equally in terms of effect and side effects. The choice of anti-VEGF should be determined solely by price and dosage. A tender was prepared in alignment with the guidelines. This result led to the development of a medicine recommendation, which was passed onto hospital pharmacies, clinical pharmacists and physicians to ensure implementation in the clinic. Feedback from the clinics concerning estimated consumption was forwarded to the drug suppliers and was continuously monitored by the procurement pharmacist to ensure compliance at the clinics.
The clinicians switched patients to the new first-line choice. The market share of first-line treatment was 89% compared to 25% before the guideline. Two tenders were published based on the guideline. The first resulted in a price reduction of 28%, the second a reduction of 54%. Total actual savings in the first tender (based on a 31-month contract period) was €38m. In the second tender (based on the first 12 months of the contract period) was €35m.
New medicines are expected to be approved in the near future. We will continue to use and develop national treatment guidelines in combination with tender procedures and proper implementation of guidelines to obtain better and cheaper treatment options for patients.
Selection, Procurement and Distribution
Alison Anastasi, Karl Farrugia
The amount of shortages was considerable leading to interruption of treatment, hoarding, wastage, hospital admissions incurring more expenses. Malta is one of the small EU Member states and its geographical position does not facilitate sourcing. Thereby on analysing the matter further, walking directly into the chaos creating order, inventing, creating, connecting and making things happen was the mainstay since then. The industry accepted the partnership invitation and sourcing increased both from the local and international scenario. Best in class operational efficiency, quality & functional excellence was achieved. According to the National Audit office in 2012, Malta had a recurring issue with shortages of medicines and now in 2016 we have had nil shortages for 30 weeks.
1. Establishment of a dedicated team – Emergency Response Unit (ERU)
2. Enterprise Resource Planning inventory management
3. Customer demand forecast modelling
4. Partnership with the industry
5. Innovative procurement strategies e.g. negotiations, therapeutic time-based agreements, e-auctioning, framework agreements, managed entry access
6. Registration: Allowing bidders to register after they were awarded the tender; parallel importation
The challenges faced included influencing and providing leadership to partners in the delivery of on demand innovative solutions, strategic sourcing involving language translations, registering medicines by the department, demand supplier relationships, payment within 60 days, ageing population, procurement services revenue and profit growth. The winning strategy foundation was the interaction and integration of people (internal and external stakeholders) to business information and business intelligence.
The department has achieved good results measured by the number of shortages, better quality of life, by reduction of hospital admissions thereby reduction in costs. The average medicine shortages in 2013 was 56; in 2014 (40); in 2015 (5) and in 2016 (1) till October. The budget allocated per year has increased due to longevity however more patients are being treated and the cost savings lead to innovative technology access.
Having mitigation measures in place such as pre-planned need analysis; choosing the right process; reducing unnecessary care and focusing on sustainability is good practice. Locally this is being implemented for the procurement of non-medicines and in fact cost savings running into millions have resulted.
