EGPRN: European General Practice Research Network.

Chronic diseases are acknowledged to be the major cause of death and disability worldwide, and are predicted to rise to 73% and 60% respectively by 2020. The complexity of health care for chronic disease is increasing; due to several factors including ageing populations and preventable co-morbidities. Family medicine faces increasing challenges in the management of complex multi-morbidity, with an increasing workload for GPs in Europe as we strive for better patient outcomes. It must be acknowledged that increasing demands and associated rising costs on health care systems are not sustainable. In February 2012, the Wonca Europe Network Equip was announced the winner of the Wonca Anniversary Fund, which will report by Wonca Europe’s twenty-fifth Anniversary in 2015. Equip’s proposal combines their remit of advancing the quality and safety of patient care in European general practice/family medicine (GP/FM) with the need to prioritize the promotion of patients’ active involvement in their own healthcare. ‘Patient empowerment’ was adopted as the 12th characteristic of European general practice by Wonca Europe in 2011. This Equip project aims to support European GPs and practice nurses effectively and efficiently to empower patients to improve their own self-management of chronic conditions (non-communicable disease) in the context of primary care. Those aims will be met through the following measures: (1) Literature search and construction of a database of concise evidence summaries for dissemination in Europe; (2) Preparation of a chronic condition patient self-management (CCPSM) training package template for GPs and practice nurses across Europe; and (3) Piloting and evaluation of the training package for CCPSM in a sample of practices in several European countries. Further details of the CCPSM project will be found on Equip’s website http://www.equip.ch