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Hungary and Norway adopt HPCB regulatory approach

21 October 2008

Two European competent authorities have implemented agreements created under the Healthcare Professionals Crossing Borders (HPCB) initiative, to further information exchange with healthcare regulators.

The Office of Health Authorisation and Administrative Procedures in Hungary, will sign the HPCB ‘Memorandum of Understanding on Case-by-Case and Proactive Information Sharing’ between regulators. Hungary is the 10th competent authority to sign the memorandum since its publication in early 2008.

In addition, the Norwegian Registration Authority for Health Personnel has announced that from 1st October 2008 it has implemented the HPCB Certificate of Current Professional Status after it was granted the authority from the Norwegian Government. The Certificate, which was created under the HPCB Edinburgh Agreement, provides competent authorities with detailed registration information about healthcare professionals who wish to register in their country.

These developments demonstrate that both the Edinburgh and Portugal Agreements have led to practical and important changes to the way in healthcare regulators in Europe collaborate and share information.

Claire Herbert, Project Lead of HPCB states:

“The continued endorsement of HPCB’s ‘Memorandum of Understanding on Case-by-Case and Proactive Information Sharing’ between regulators, and its Certificate of Current Professional Standing, demonstrates the impact that the initiative is having on regulatory collaboration in Europe. Crossing Borders has played, and will continue to play, a fundamental role in bringing European healthcare regulators together to further their contribution to patient safety in Europe.”