INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITY
2021: IFHE-EU’s busy year and Presidential handover
Founded in 2005, IFHE-EU is the longest-established regional group of the International Federation of Healthcare Engineering. Considering the challenges presented by COVID-19 worldwide, and the occasional communication technology issues experienced by many throughout the pandemic, the European Group had another successful, and certainly eventful, year in 2021, reports the group’s Treasurer, and IHEEM’s IFHE representative, David Whiteley, in this interesting look back.
As was the case with many other organisations, the IFHE-EU’s Executive Committee (ExCo) met online on a number of occasions throughout the year to learn lessons, share knowledge and best practice, and discuss members’ experiences of overcoming the challenges of the impact of COVID-19 across their respective countries’ health and care systems. David Whiteley explained: “The year started with one of our founder member organisations, SIAIS in Italy, holding the IFHE worldwide Presidency (see Daniela Pedrini’s article in the August 2021 HEJ), and the IFHE-EU Presidency being held by IHEEM’s Chief Executive, Pete Sellars. During this term, both have been proactive members of IFHE- EU’s ExCo, which has ensured close collaboration between the European Group and worldwide IFHE – an arrangement expected to continue going forward.
Presidential arrangements “The Presidential arrangement for IFHE- EU follow the hosting of the European Congress (Conference) every two years,” David Whiteley continued, “is that the host organisation chooses a President for that duration, who then hands over to the next host organisation’s nominated person at the next Congress. Hence, following IHEEM’s hosting of the highly successful 8th Congress in October 2019 in Manchester, IHEEM CEO, Pete Sellars, held the Presidency of IFHE-EU until he handed over to Pedro Manuel Lopez Redondo of our Spanish counterpart organisation, AEIH, at the latter’s Congress in Gijón in the Asturias in Spain last October.”
IFHE-EU Group – historical context Founded in 2005, IFHE-EU is the longest- established Regional group of IFHE. David Whiteley explained: “The Group’s first Congress was held in Baden-Baden in Germany that year. IFHE-EU Congresses are customarily held in the intermediate years from the IFHE global Congresses, and normally provide a location and focal
point for IFHE National Council members to meet.” Since the IFHE-EU’s founding, member
organisation numbers have grown (the number is currently up to 14), and the various national member bodies have taken their turn in volunteering to host the IFHE-EU International Congress (usually alongside their own national event – as in the case of IHEEM in 2019), such that subsequent Congresses have been held as follows:
2007: Vienna, Austria – host: OVKT. 2009: Goes, the Netherlands – hosts: NVTG /
ZORG.tech. 2011: Paris, France – host: IHF. 2013: Bern, Switzerland – host: HIS. 2015: Turku, Finland – host: AFHE/SSTY. 2017: Bologna, Italy – host: SIAIS. 2019: Manchester, UK – host: IHEEM. 2021: Gijón, Spain – host: AEIH.
French event now in planning David Whiteley said: “The next IFHE-EU Congress is currently being planned for June 2023 in Paris by our colleagues within the French hospital engineering association, the Association des Ingénieurs Hospitaliers De France.”
Progress made by IFHE-EU He continued: “As HEJ’s readers would expect, there are strong synergies between IFHE-EU’s core aims and IHEEM’s goals, including the need to provide increased support and valued professional advice to members and broader stakeholders. IFHE-EU has played a vital role in creating the environment for professional and technical information exchange to happen; an example was the highlighting – by our colleagues in Northern Italy – of the medical gas supply problems during the
Pictured, left to right, within the ‘Engineering in Action Awards’ exhibition area at the IFHE-EU Congress hosted last October in Gijón, Northern Spain, by Spanish organisation, AEIH, are: AEIH President, D Pedro Manuel Lopez Redondo, director of Health of the Principality of Asturias, Pablo Ignacio Fernandez Muñiz, and President of the Organising Committee for the 38th AEIH Congress, Antonio Cobo Alvarez.
February 2022 Health Estate Journal 21
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