On the 4^th December, the European University Hospital Alliance, co-founded by IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, organised its 5^th General Assembly, the highest decision-making body of the EUHA, at hospital Saint-Louis, in Paris. Since one of the aims of the EUHA is to help shape sustainable European health policies, Ms Anne Bucher, Director General of DG Sante (Health and Food Safety) of the European Commission, joined the assembly for an informal discussion about the role university hospitals play in translating science into clinical practice, the digital transformation of healthcare, the European Health Data Space and healthcare sustainability.

EUHA made also a big step forwards by adopting its Articles of Association and laying down the governance structure and the ways of working of the EUHA as an association. The day concluded with the approval of the working plans for 2020 for the newly established Digital Health and Data Network and the creation of a Clinician Leadership Development Programme.

Effective leadership is consistently recommended as a lever for the transformation that will be needed to cope with the challenges our health care systems are currently facing. Despite these important insights, programs for leadership development of top-level physicians are scarce and the EUHA hospitals are developing their own programmes with a shared international component.

The EUHA network of Research Leads will also start collaborating to advance Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) within our University Hospitals. The key elements of RRI are drivers of organisation accountability and transparency, with direct implications for strategies designed to strengthen the quality of hospital services and research output and to enhance the relationship with stakeholder communities.

 

What’s the European University Hospital Alliance

The European University Hospital Alliance was formed in 2017 with the commitment of nine leading university hospitals in Europe with demonstrated excellence in healthcare, education and research.

Its members are:

• AP-HP, Paris, France

• Charité, Berlin, Germany
• Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
• IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy
• Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
• King’s Health Partners, London, United Kingdom
• UZ Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
• KH Wien & MedUni Wien, Vienna, Austria
• Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus, Barcelona, Spain

They collaborate to improve outcomes for today’s and tomorrow’s patients. They foster excellence and innovation in healthcare, research and education to improve the quality of care at a European level. Innovating together facilitates peer-learning and benchmarking at European level, contributing to the sustainability of our healthcare systems.