Executive summary The unavailability of medicines is on the rise in Europe and it has a tremendous impact on patients. Medicine shortages occur across all healthcare settings and involve both essential life-saving medicines and very commonly used drugs. Community pharmacists are very concerned about this phenomenon, which can compromise patients’ health. Moreover, pharmacies and pharmacists invest a lot of resources dealing with shortages which...

Community pharmacists are ready to enhance their contribution and to help Europe’s health systems.

European community pharmacists consider new, innovative and automated technologies a useful tool to support and complement their expert professional advice to patients and to deliver more efficient, sustainable and high-quality pharmacy services. Community pharmacists have the infrastructure and expertise to deploy Big Data and AI in practice: they already use digital services on a daily basis (e.g. dispensing ePrescription, checking for medicati...

The new term of the European Parliament will offer an unprecedented opportunity for  Members of the European Parliament to determine the course of EU action on health issues. Indeed, 2019 will be a crucial year for the EU institutions to decide on whether maintaining health policy in the EU agenda. PGEU calls for the continuation of a comprehensive and coherent EU approach to health and for health dossiers, including medicines and medical device...