MEETINGS

EAPT members meet annually to network, share and provide updates on national Pharmacy Technician practice and to execute the business of the association. The annual meeting is chaired by the EAPT President and discusses the current membership, reviews the EAPT finances and sets annual budgets, carries out EAPT Board elections (every three years) and sets the future annual EAPT activities and projects. Each national member can be represented by two delegates approved by their national association. The meetings are hosted by the country of one of the national association and are inclusive and engaging and allow the coming together of Pharmacy Technicians across Europe.

2025 // EAPT annual meeting in Prague / Czech Republic

This year the EAPT annual meeting took place in Prague, hosted by the Czech Association of Pharmacy Technician. On the eve of the meeting, our Czech colleagues gave us a little evening tour around the famous, charming, and historical Prague Castle. The meeting took place at the Education Centre of the Military University Hospital in Prague, and we had the opportunity to have a short, guided visit to of the hospital pharmacy, to see the internal process in the hospital pharmacy. Thank you to the Czech Colleagues for the interesting tours.

Most of the EAPT member states were present, and we were happy to meet our colleagues from Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Montenegro, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Sweden. Our President, Cristiano Matos officially opened the meeting and welcomed everyone. He thanked the Czech Republic for hosting the meeting, for their hospitality and the lovely welcome dinner and the interesting evening tour. We always look forward meeting all our colleagues in person as there are so many things to talk about and to learn from the other countries and it is easier to speak face to face.

After our Secretary Laura Lyons completed the meeting housekeeping, our President Cristiano gave an overview of the EAPT work since our last meeting. This included the registration of our updated statutes, our promotional work for Pharmacy Technician day, our collaboration work with FIP and the EAHP. Cristiano also noted our support of EU Guidelines – Guidance for the safe management hazardous medical products at work – and the - Stop cancer- guideline.

The EAPT is continuing to grow

Cristiano had the opportunity to talk to the PT organisations from Malta, Luxembourg, Poland, and the UK. We also were able to establish contact with Northern Ireland, Spain, Lithuania, Türkiye, and Scotland through the EAPT EAN. Cristiano continues to work with the FIP Pharmacy Technician Advisory Group. The EAPT has also supported the membership application of an Irish Pharmacy Technician educator to the FIP Advisory Committee and the Voelker School for PT from Germany to the Academic Network.

New member applications – Luxembourg and Bulgaria have requested to join the EAPT and have submitted the relevant documents to support their requests. The EAPT members in attendance unanimously approved both country’s membership. Country presentations – Bulgaria, Montenegro and Slovakia gave short presentations on their associations.

A warm welcome to the new members.

Country Annual Reports

The next point on our agenda were the reports from our member countries. Every year it is exciting to hear what is happening in the other PT organisations, the pharmacies in the countries, the working conditions, and the delivery problems.

What concerns us also this year in pharmacies across Europe are supply difficulties, medicine shortages and how pharmacies deal with them. Many countries are exploring similar solutions, such as increasing transparency in supply routes so that shortages in one region can be addressed if goods remain available in other areas. Larger stockpiling ordered by the state, in some countries, this applies to pharmacies, while other countries collaborate with wholesalers in this regard. Both solutions are unsatisfactory, because what do we do in the pharmacy or the wholesaler with the unsold or expired medicines and who replaces them? Some countries have imposed an export ban on important medicines or there are massive export restrictions. Another problem everywhere is counterfeit medicines, which are increasingly appearing on the European market.

The next topic was the lack of staff in pharmacies, caused by constant stress, unfriendly customers, ever more bureaucracy, poor pay and, especially in public pharmacies, the lack of career opportunities. Furthermore, a massive exodus of employees from public pharmacies to industry, hospitals or health insurance companies due to the better pay and more pleasant working hours. Many PTs are also turning their backs on pharmacy altogether and looking for new opportunities. Here, too, the strategies for retaining employees are similar: burnout seminars, more responsibility, more family-friendly working hours, team events and, unfortunately less often, better pay.

Also, the training and the curriculum for PTs requires updating in many of the countries as it no longer fulfils today's requirements. Some countries do not recognise the PT role or there are no statutory regulations for the PT.

More information to the member countries you will find on our website.

European Academic Network update

João gave us an update on the EAN’s activities which included two Webinars.

There were presentations on the following Erasmus projects:

• Introducing Pharmacy Technicians as Immunizers through E-Learning. (João)
• PharmTech Mobility: Enhancing European Pharmacy Technician Exchange and Mobility. (Tao)

More information you will find under News and the international cooperation projects on the website.

EAPT Activities 2025/2026

Cristiano spoke about the plans and activities for the rest of the year and the next year. Renew the Strategy, planning of a Mid-year Meeting 2025 – the EAPT EAN will organise the 2025 mid-year meeting. We will check with the APTUK & UK’s Pharmacy Technician progression – the benchmark for pharmacy technicians in EU countries.

Meeting summary and close

The next meeting will take place in Strasbourg, France in May. Thanks to our French colleagues for agreeing to host the 2026 meeting.

We said farewell to Gunilla Andersson, our Swedish colleague, and thanked her for her many years of service to the EAPT. We wish her well for the future.

The President, Cristiano Matos once again thanked everyone for joining the meeting and the Czech Republic for hosting a great and successful meeting 2025.

2024 // EAPT ANNUAL MEETING IN OSLO / NORWAY

The EAPT’s 2024 Annual meeting was held in Oslo, Norway. The agenda included a report on all the exciting news and activities of the EAPT since we last met in May 2023. The members unanimously approved a number of governance documents, the treasure’s report, and the addition of two new member countries.

There were representatives from Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, and Sweden. The Danish representative sent their apologies.

Our President, Cristiano Matos, officially opened the meeting and welcomed everyone. He thanked Norway for hosting the meeting and for their hospitality, which included a fabulous welcome dinner. It is always great to meet our colleagues in person and not in an online meeting, as we achieve and learn so much more from other countries.

Since our last meeting 2023 we launched two new groups in the EAPT, the EAPT Academic Network (EAN) and the EAPT Advisory Group. More information about this two new Groups you will find here on our website: Advisory Group

After all the housekeeping which included updates to our Statues, Internal Rules, and Code of Ethics plus lots more, we had time to talk about the search for new members.

The EAPT is continuing to grow.

Our President has had the opportunity to talk to the Pharmacy Technician organisations from Slovakia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia, Luxembourg, and Belgium. We were also able to establish contact with Malta, Northern Ireland, Spain, Lithuania, Türkiye, and Scotland.

Slovakia and Montenegro submitted their membership applications and relevant documents to the EAPT Board. After review, the membership applications were brought to the EAPT members for approval. Both applications were unanimously approved, and we are delighted to welcome both Slovakia and Montenegro to the EAPT and look forward to meeting them in person at our 2025 annual meeting.

EAPT Collaboration

The EAPT continue to collaborate with a number of other groups. Both our President and Secretary met with the EAHP in Brussels in September 2023 and discussed the problems facing both pharmacists and pharmacy technicians including medicine shortages and staffing issues. Our President met with the EAHP President and participated in a plenary session at the EAHP congress in March 2024. He continues to work with the FIP Pharmacy Technician Advisory group. More information can be found on our website and Facebook pages.

Europe at a crossroad – advocacy strategies and political influence

We had a guest presenter from Norway, Mr. Rolf A. Vestvik - International secretary of YS. He is a former diplomat in the Norwegian foreign service and has also worked as a political adviser in the Norwegian parliament and as Director of Advocacy and Communication in the Norwegian humanitarian organization Norwegian Refugee Council.

In his exciting presentation, he reported about the problems in the EU, the increased inequality of the people, 10 % of the richest people control 60 % of the development, the backlash on human rights worldwide, the conflicts with the migration and the climate change.

The democracy is under pressure, the decline of demographic rights, the media financing and increasing controlling. He also talked about the role, the EAPT plays in all this, what can we do, what can we archive, what makes us unique. Thank you Mr. Vestvik for this great lesson.

A very inspiring talk and thank you, Unn-Kristin Olsen, President of the Norwegian union Parat for inviting Rolf A. Vestvik to our meeting.

Country Annual Reports

The next point on our agenda were the reports from our member countries. Every year it is exciting to hear what is happening in the other Pharmacy Technician organisations, the pharmacies in their countries, the working conditions, and the delivery problems.

What concerns us in pharmacies across Europe are supply difficulties, medicine shortages and how pharmacies deal with them. The solutions being considered are similar in almost all countries, namely the demand for visibility of supply routes in order to compensate for the shortage in one part of the country if goods are still available elsewhere. Larger stockpiling ordered by the state, in some countries, this applies to pharmacies, while other countries collaborate with wholesalers in this regard. Both solutions are unsatisfactory, because what do we do in the pharmacy or the wholesaler with the unsold and perhaps expired medicines and who replaces them? Some countries have imposed an export ban on important medicines or there are massive export restrictions. Another problem everywhere is counterfeit medicines, which are increasingly appearing on the European market.

The next topic was the lack of staff everywhere in pharmacies, caused by constant stress, unfriendly customers, increasing bureaucracy, poor pay, and the lack of career opportunities, particularly in community pharmacies. Furthermore, a massive exodus of employees from public pharmacies to industry, hospitals, or health insurance companies due to the generally better pay and more pleasant working hours. Many pharmacy technicians are also turning their backs on pharmacy altogether and looking for new opportunities. Here too, the strategies for retaining employees are similar: burnout seminars, more responsibility, more family-friendly working hours, team events and, unfortunately less frequently, better pay.

In regard to education, the training and the curriculum for pharmacy technicians has to be updated in many countries as it no longer fulfils today's requirements. In some countries the pharmacy technician is not recognised or there are no statutory regulations for pharmacy technicians.

More information to the member countries you will find here on our website: Members

EAPT Board elections

As agreed at the 2023 AGM the Vice-president post was left vacant for one year. A nomination was received for the position in advance of the 2024 AGM. The nominee was Anita Sveum Nilsen (Norway & EAPT Board member), and the nomination was approved by all members.

An EAPT Board member post became vacant as a result of the filling of the Vice-president post. A nomination was received for this position from Sweden. The members approved the nomination of Juliana Keta as board member to the EAPT Board. Congratulations to both on the successful appointment to their new roles on the EAPT Board.

EAPT Activities 2024/2025

Cristiano Matos spoke about the plans and activities for the rest of 2024 and into 2025. Registering the updated Strategy, planning of a Mid-year Meeting 2024 (the EAPT EAN will organise this meeting). Promoting Pharmacy Technician Day 2024 (15th October). The Board will prepare new EAPT messages for this day, which the members can post on their social media pages. We will connect with APTUK in relation to UK’s Pharmacy Technician progression as they can be considered a benchmark for pharmacy technicians in EU countries. The EAPT have also applied to be part of the Critical Medicines Alliance CMA), which was set up in January 2024 and is a consultative mechanism bringing together relevant stakeholders from EU Member States, key industries, the civil society, and the scientific community.

Meeting summary and close

Thanks to the Czech Republic for agreeing to host the meeting next year which will take place in Prague in May 2025.

All business was concluded, and the President closed the meeting, thanking our hosts, Norway, thanking the members for joining a highly successful meeting.

2023 // EAPT ANNUAL MEETING IN ZAGREB

Meet the new EAPT Board

President – Cristiano Matos (Portugal)
Secretary – Laura Lyons (Ireland)
Treasurer – Svjetlana Jakovac (Croatia)
Media – Jutta Brielich (Germany)
Board Member – Anita Sveum Nilsen (Norway)
New Board Member – Veronika Luňáková (Czech Republic)

2021 // EAPT VIRTUAL MEETING

Due to Covid-19 pandemic we had to cancel the 2021 annual meeting in Croatia and decided to hold our annual meeting virtually via Zoom. And we had a fabulous, lively, and informative EAPT online meeting with great results and lots of discussions. We shared our experiences on many topics related to the pandemic, the role of the PT in this situation and recognised our similarities.

We had a packed meeting program including elections for the EAPT board. The EAPT consists of 11 member countries, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, and Sweden. Every annual meeting includes the sharing of very interesting national updates and news which is in addition to the written report submitted by each country in advance of the meeting. All countries reported more difficult working conditions due to the pandemic situation. Many community pharmacies installed protective shields over the counter and had restriction on the number of customers inside the pharmacy. Staff work from home when possible and the training of the new PT colleagues is mostly online nowadays.

In some countries the PT is playing an important role in the process of vaccinating the customers against Covid-19, either in the pharmacy or in special Covid vaccination centres. Also, the community pharmacies are conducting Covid-19 tests in many countries. In some countries the PT got a monetary reward for working during the pandemic in these difficult conditions.

Many of the country representatives spoke of workforce / PT and pharmacist shortages in community, hospital, and manufacturing. They also noted the pandemic affected supplies of disinfected and PPE. The pandemic has highlighted the reliance Europe has on imports of many drugs so, it is essential, that the European Government is entering into a dialog with manufacturers to increase manufacturing of medicines in Europe. This is critical to patient safety in every country.

Board Elections

The EAPT Board 2020- 2023 nominations were submitted in 2019/2020 ready for voting at the annual 2020 meeting. However, due to the global Covid 19 pandemic the 2020 meeting was postponed and the 2017-2020 EAPT Board continued in post to carry out the business of EAPT. One nomination was received for each post so therefore there was no requirement for a secret ballot. Each country was required (one vote per country) to approve each Board position. As each position, starting with President, was called out each member country registered their approval/non approval using the ZOOM meeting chat box.

The following Board was elected at our virtual meeting 2021:

President – Christina Durinck
Vice President – Cristiano Matos
Treasurer – Gunilla Anderson
Secretary – Laura Lyons
Media – Jutta Brielich
Member – Anita Sveum Nilsen

Our ongoing work plan will be an updating of the statutes, collaboration with other organisations, an overhaul of the surveys and creating some more surveys.

The President, Christina Durinck thanked the old Board for all the work they have done over the last few years.

She welcomed Anita Sveum Nilsen, Cristiano Matos and Laura Lyons as new Board members.

She thanked Bodil for all the work she has done as Vice-President.

There was a special thank you and farewell to Tess Fenn who has been a part of the EAPT for many years. She will be very much missed, and we hope to stay in contact in the future.

All member countries agreed to invite Tess to our meeting in Croatia 2022 to allow the EAPT to show their appreciation properly.

Overall the meeting was a great success but everyone missed the networking and talks beside the official program and hope that we will be able to meet face to face once again in 2022.

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