Dear colleagues General Practitioners/Family Physicians and other Primary Health Care Professionals,
It’s a great honour for me to invite you to attend the 55th EQuiP Assembly Meeting, which will be held in Thessaloniki, Greece, on 29 & 30 March, 2019.
EQuiP, the European Society for Quality and Safety in General Practice, in collaboration with ELEGEIA, the Scientific Association of General Practitioners in Greece, will organise the 55th EQuiP Assembly Meeting under the main theme: “Healthy Practices, Healthy Professionals, Healthier Patients”. The meeting will be a journey full of learning and interaction about these three main topics linked to quality and safety in Primary Care.
Healthy practices are essential for the better performance of primary care professionals, which finally contribute to the best possible outcome of the patient’s health. Practices involve the infrastructures, equipment, procedures, staff, payment methods, patients lists, and the many other factors that affect the primary care setting on the one hand and on the other hand the protocols, guidelines, disease thresholds, medication choices, communication skills, and much more that we use in our everyday life in our work. In Greece, especially during the financial crisis, all these quality parameters were severely affected. However, Europe also faces similar problems due to the instability of the population, through for example aging and immigration.
Regarding professionals’ health, I invite you to discuss not only the continuing growth of burnout and the urgent need to manage the maintenance of our own health, but also the important role we play as health models to our patients. Finally, healthy practices and healthy professionals must have, as a rational result, healthier patients. Don’t you agree?
We wait for you in Thessaloniki, next March, 2019, to discuss, reflect and interact with experts in the field, across Europe and Greece, on topics that are affecting all of us, in order to provide qualitative healthcare, without harming our own health, but instead improve it along with our patients’ health.
I am looking forward to welcoming you in our beautiful Thessaloniki, which combines more than 3,000 years of history with a modern way of living and many entertainment opportunities.
Kind regards,
Sofia Dimopoulou
President of the meeting
Greek Delegate in EQuiP
ELEGEIA’s Chairwoman of Quality Assurance Committee GP in Greece