Gastroenterology training in Europe-unmet educational needs beyond the machines: response from the European Section and Board of Gastroenterology.

Ianiro and Gasbarrini suggest that the role of the European Section and Board of Gastroenterology (ESBGH) has been ‘lost in translation’. Data on the timeline and distribution of our recognised training centres are used to suggest that there has been a decline in training centre applications which may be a marker for problems in specialist gastroenterology training across Europe. The initial preponderance of numbers of training centres in the UK was due to the enthusiastic recruitment of UK centres by the UK National delegate in the late 1990s, and does not reflect in any way on the quality of training across Europe. This does however account for the apparent relative decline in the numbers of training centres applying for and obtaining ESBGH approval, which has been steady year on year for the last 10 years. The ESBGH has provided a curriculum (the Blue Book) in 2012, and introduced a high-quality knowledge-based examination in 2014 in collaboration with the British Society of Gastroenterology and the Royal College of Physicians, with the aim of setting standards for the training of specialists throughout Europe. These measures, in conjunction with our responsibility for assessing all Gastroenterology and Hepatology CME approval applications to UEMS, and our commitment to workforce development, underpin our determination to support our colleagues to deliver the highest standards of care to patients in all parts of Europe.