20 April 1994

Doc. 7082

MOTION FOR A RECOMMENDATION

on commitment to quality in health care and clinical

and biological examinations

presented by Mr DANIEL and others 1

1.       The Assembly recalls the "Health for All in the Year 2000" campaign launched by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the many recommendations adopted within the Council of Europe both by itself and by the Committee of Ministers concerning public health and health care.

2.       There is a need for more effective application of all these legal instruments which have been adopted out of a concern to guarantee and improve the quality of medical care in particular and to ensure that care is dispensed in humane conditions while respecting the right of each individual to social and health protection.

3.       To achieve this, it is vital to promote health education and information and familiarise people with the main texts adopted at European level, which are often incorporated into domestic legislation; generating awareness among providers of health care and patients will guarantee an improvement in the quality of care and clinical and biological examinations of all kinds.

4.       In addition, research needs to be promoted effectively and findings disclosed as rapidly as possible so that scientific circles as well as patients may be informed.

5.       The Assembly therefore recommends that the Committee of Ministers:

i.       introduce a "quality pledge" and encourage its adoption in Europe by all the providers of all types of care, with the aim of ensuring that all WHO and Council of Europe texts concerning health care quality are publicly displayed and promoted;

ii.       urge that the texts be displayed in all premises where care is dispensed as well as in hospital waiting rooms, doctors' surgeries, medical analysis and biological laboratories or any other place where people are able to obtain health information and education;

iii.       in return for this pledge and the display of these texts, grant in conjunction with national academies and associations of doctors, dentists, biologists, pharmacists etc a "European seal of quality" to all who comply with the provisions of these texts, thereby contributing to an improvement in the quality of health care and its harmonisation at European level.

Signed:

Daniel, Davis, Banks, Monfils, Mignon, Ruffy, J. ThompsonMalachowski, Birraux, Havik, Özver

1 ¹ This text only represents the views of the individual members who have signed it. It does not reflect a position adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly.