Fionnuala Kennedy, Head of Pharmacy at the Mater Private Hospital and President of the Hospital Pharmacists Association of Ireland reflects on learnings from the EAHP 2017 Congress. The 22nd Congress of the European Hospital Pharmacists’ Association (EAHP) took place in Cannes, France from 21st – 24th March 2017. The EAHP represents more than 19,000 hospital pharmacists in 35 European countries and is the only association of national organisations representing hospital pharmacists at European and international levels. The EAHP represents and develops the hospital pharmacy profession within Europe in order to ensure the continuous improvement of care and outcomes for patients in the hospital setting. This is achieved through science, research, education, practice, as well as sharing best-practice and responsibility with other healthcare professionals. The conference was very well attended by hospital pharmacists from all over Europe, and is the biggest annual gathering of hospital pharmacists in Europe. The congress consisted of several strands: • Keynote addresses • Seminars • Workshops • Poster exhibitions and competition • Satellite symposia The first keynote, “New medicines ant any cost?” was given by
Dr Suzanne Hill, Department of Essential Medicines and Health Products, WHO. The address explored the conflict between the use of new, high cost medicines, and their value within a fixed healthcare budget. Dr Hill presented data on the cost of bringing a new drug to market and the escalation of the entry price for new molecules in the context of increasing world-wide expenditure on pharmaceuticals. She focussed on Oncology, Multiple Sclerosis and Hepatitis C. Dr Hill also discussed the product development cycle and addressed shortages of essential medicines. The second keynote, “Big data: hype or help?” was presented by Prof Heyo K Kromer. Dean of Medicines, Gottingen University. Prof Kromer spoke of the explosion in health data available and explored its impact on healthcare. He discussed the drivers for medicines data, including analytical technology, world demographics changes and innovation. Big data in healthcare
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