Abstract
National Societies are close to the heart of the UEG. Currently, there are 46 national societies coming from 41 European countries that are associated with UEG. As an inclusive organization UEG welcomes societies with national coverage that cater to the needs of clinicians and cover all aspects of Gastroenterology, including gastrointestinal, hepatic, biliary and pancreatic disease. Currently, the membership base of UEG includes 22,000 medical professionals coming from a wide variety of European countries spanning from Norway to Algeria and from Ireland to Georgia.
The grassroot presence of UEG with representation spreading deep into Europa has created an unparalleled network of gastroenterologists. This local presence of UEG coupled with the European outreach, resources and know-how, is of distinct advantage to achieve UEG’s mission to improve standards of care in gastroenterology, and promote ever greater understanding of digestive and liver disease – among the public and medical experts.
How are National Societies represented in UEG? Well, representatives from each national society convene twice a year in a National Societies Forum (NSF) to discuss matters of relevance to European gastroenterology. This is the forum where European gastroenterologists make their voice heard. The forum which consists of 46 members, 1 representative per National Society, elects officials for 2 representative bodies, the National Societies Committee (NSC) and the General Assembly.
The General Assembly is so to say the parliament of the UEG. They convene at the occasion of the UEG week once a year. Apart from elected officials from the NSF, there are also officials from UEG Ordinary Member organizations, such as for example those representing the pancreas (EPC) or liver (EASL). The General Assembly ratifies strategical decisions suggested by UEG Council but also elects members of Council.
The NSF also elects members of the National Societies Committee (NSC). This committee drives the political agenda of the NSF and helps to serve the interests of National Societies within UEG. Currently it consists of 10 members. As such it is one of the 5 committees that is part of the organizational structure of UEG.
In order to cement the National Societies within UEG, some members of the NSC have cross-representation in other UEG committees. László Herszényi (Hungary) is also member of the Education Committee, Roberto Penagini (Italy) is member of the Public Affairs Committee, Laurent Peyrin-Biroulet (France) is member of the Scientific Committee, while Jordi Serra (Spain) is a standing member of the Future Trends Committee.
The current strategy of the NSC is threefold. (1) we want to foster communication & exchange between National Societies, NSC, NSF and National Societies Representatives on UEG General Assembly in order to enhance the European network. (2) we want to encourage involvement and contribution from young gastroenterologists in UEG’s volunteer work and lastly. (3) support efforts to minimize disparities between health care systems in Europe.
One of the instruments that we have is the LINK programme. This is an award scheme that selects projects that stimulate collaboration between national societies. We know that even within Europe there are vast differences in possibilities that health care professionals have to deliver care, but also an imbalance when it comes down to knowledge and capabilities. The ultimate goal of the LINK programme is to homogenise quality of care in Gastroenterology. We already finance 2 initiatives. The first LINK programme is on the development of a European Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition Clinical Trials Network (PEDDCReN) which is led by Nick Croft (UK) and initiated by the British and Dutch Societies of Gastroenterology. The second LINK programme spearheaded by Matthias Lohr (Sweden) is on harmonising diagnosis and therapy of pancreatitis across Europe and is supported by the Swedish and (among others) German societies of Gastroenterology. The LINK award programme offers national societies the monetary possibilities to develop initiatives that foster networking and communication.
National Societies are visible at UEG Week through the National Societies Symposia. These are symposia that focus on a common problem that is handled differently in various European member states. For UEG Week Vienna 2014 two symposia are planned. One is on Liver transplantation and another on Helicobacter pylori infection. This will give delegates a flavour of the rich diversity of Europe.
Jakub Fichna (Poland) is our junior member of the NSC, and has the task to represent the interest of young gastroenterologists in Europe. He aims to make UEG Week an even more attractive meeting place for young gastroenterologists and scientists. Together with other committees in UEG, the NSC plans to coordinate initiatives related to the scientific programme of UEG Week and create a “Young Network Club”, a lounge area central in the congress center as a place to meet and greet for colleagues and peers.
UEG is aware of the fact that many diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in Gastroenterology vary strongly between countries. These variations in clinical practice implicate that the quality of healthcare is suboptimal, which results in unnecessary expense and patients are at risk of complications caused by unnecessary interventions. One of the ways to curtail practice variation is to issue and host guidelines. Axel Dignass (Germany) and Monique van Leerdam (Netherlands) are responsible within the NSC to develop the communication of gastroenterology guidelines within the national Societies to assure wide implementation.
Working for a large professional yet volunteer organization such as UEG is important but also fun. I am a strong believer in the values and strengths of Europe. We need to value the differences among us. These differences are important because they are what makes for example France and Germany unique. However, there is much that unites us. My central driving force is that we must improve the quality of life of patients with gastrointestinal diseases. We can always do better and the European diversity offers us with unique possibilities to do so.