European medical orders call for “zero tolerance” of violence against healthcare professionals
The members of the European Council of Medical Orders (C.E.O.M) met today at the French Medical Council (CNOM) in Paris to tackle the growing violence affecting healthcare professionals across Europe.
According to the WHO, between 8% and 38% of healthcare professionals are victims of physical violence at some point in their career. Many more suffer verbal aggression and threats on a regular basis.
The C.E.O.M has been working to tackle this important issue for several years now. A European Observatory on violence against doctors was set up on 23 June 2017. A European awareness day against violence (12 March), was also launched in 2020.
To take our commitment even further, the C.E.O.M decided at a meeting in Madrid in March 2023 to create a standardised European incident report form, common to all member countries.
This form is based on those established by several C.E.O.M ‘s members organizations.
The data collected will be processed and analysed within C.E.O.M to obtain a more detailed analysis of the causes and consequences of these acts and to enable the development of more effective policies to combat them.
The form, which was unanimously adopted at today’s plenary meeting, is the result of a close cooperation between all the European associations and the main representative medical bodies.
Following the vote, Dr José Santos, President of the C.E.O.M, stated: “This is a major step forward in the fight against this unacceptable phenomenon”. Dr Philippe Cathala, C.E.O.M General Secretary, added: “It’s a strong signal of support and solidarity that we’re sending out to all our European colleagues.”.
