European Pharmacy Students release Statement of Opinion on Self-care Brussels, 14th April 2017

The European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association has released a Statement of Opinion on Self-care, following the debate during its Annual Reception 2017. The EPSA Annual Reception 2017, hosted by MEP Lieve Wierinck (ALDE Group), took place on 8th of March 2017 in the European Parliament and was centred around the topic ‘Self-care: Empowering pharmacists for enhanced access, quality and safety’. The multi-stakeholder panel was compiled out of representatives of the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU), the European Patients’ Forum Youth Group (EPF Youth), the Association of the European Self-Medication Industry (AESGP) and the European Commission (DG SANTE). As key recommendations, the European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association: 1. Believes that healthcare professionals should be at the core of the evolution of self-care to ensure responsible patient empowerment. 2. Supports the development of increasing levels of health literacy of the population through close involvement of healthcare professionals and policies which support the accessibility of evidence-based health information to patients. 3. Calls on policymakers to always place patient safety at the centre of self-care and selfmedication policies creation. 4. Calls on national and local decision-makers to empower the pharmacy workforce in their healthcare structure. 5. Calls on the European Commission to implement the proposed changes listed in the PGEU, EAFP, EPSA, EIPG Statement on future modifications on the Directive on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications. 6. Calls on educational institutions to include more training on clinical decision-making skills in pharmacy curricula which, together with higher inclusion of soft skills and interprofessional education, will ensure more efficient and effective use of pharmacists in selfcare models. Note to editor: The European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association (EPSA) is the European association representing more than 160,000 pharmacy students aiming to “bring Pharmacy, Knowledge and Students together”. EPSA’s members are 43 pharmacy student associations across 35 European countries. For more information, please visit www.epsa-online.org or contact EPSA’s Vice President of Public Relations, Ms. Charlotte Jacobs, [email protected].