European citizens are entitled to healthcare which is both of high quality and safe. There is considerable evidence that the patient care we provide today still leaves a vast room for improvement and we believe that education and improvement is needed to bring us into a world where we will be providing more and better health to European Union citizens. 

The Krakow expert conference Education in quality care and patient safety organized within Poland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union supports the idea that ensuring better healthcare in Europe involves introducing and developing the different models of all health professionals’ education and  training, focused on teaching improvement science at the undergraduate, postgraduate and continuous education levels and that the development of the culture of quality and safety contributes to the provision of better healthcare.  

The Krakow conference is looking back at the Council Recommendation of 9 June 2009 on patient safety, including the prevention and control of healthcare associated infections which recommended embedding patient safety education and training of all health professionals, other healthcare workers and relevant management and administrative staff in the healthcare setting and at the Luxembourg Declaration on Patient Safety which recommended inclusion of patient safety in the standard training of health professionals combined with integrated methods and procedures that are embedded in a culture of continuous learning and improvement, and  welcomes the opportunity to address the issue of education in quality and safety at the EU level.

Recognizing the deliverables of the European Union Network on Patient Safety (EUNetPaS), the Krakow conference recommends to the EU institutions and to the National Authorities that the international cooperation in all health professionals’ education of quality care and patient safety in the format of exchange, sharing of experience and learning is continuously strengthened.

It recommends also that the agenda concerning all health professionals’ education in quality care and patient safety be continued, discussed and developed in the future cooperation between the EU institutions, member states and EU stakeholder organizations.

By adopting the Krakow Statement on Education in Quality Care and Patient Safety, we would like to accelerate the interest and importance of health professionals’ education and training in quality care and patient safety while acknowledging the differing progress and uptake of programme development across Europe.

Krakow, 9 September 2011