Teamwork – as essential in advocacy as in daily practice Richard Price
When professionals unite to advocate their needs they are best able to influence change. This is why nursing, veterinary and pharmacy are getting together as sectoral professions to lobby for change to the EU’s Professional Qualifications Directive to introduce specialty recognition. Improved outcomes can be achieved for patients when professionals of different educations, skillsets and experiences come together to achieve the best they can for the patient. The value of such teamwork is almost self-evident. It shouldn’t be surprising therefore that the same improvement in results can
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occur when health professionals come together to advocate their needs jointly to the political decision makers in a given system. This was certainly the case in relation to advocating reforms to the way the EU’s Professional Qualifications Directive recognises health professional qualifications across borders.
A core European Directive The Professional Qualifications Directive has evolved piecemeal over several decades of legislative innovation, trial and errors, as well as an amalgamation of several previously separate profession-specific directives. At its heart it must stand as one of the most fundamental of all European directives,