Pöördumine

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE

DIRECTORATE F - HEALTH AND FOOD

Subject: Contact persons for the EC Initiatives on Cancer Screening and Care

This note provides Member States with the state of play of the European Guidelines on

Cancer Screening and Diagnosis and Quality Assurance Schemes, and asks to identify

contact persons for the EC Initiatives on Cancer Screening and Care.

Background:

In 2003, the Council of the EU identified the adoption of European guidelines as key for

ensuring the development of effective cancer screening programmes in the EU1. The Council

Recommendation on cancer screening recommended that Member States implement high

quality population-wide screening programmes for breast, colorectal and cervical cancer, along

with other principles of best practice in their early detection. In 2008, the European Parliament2

and Council3 further invited the Commission to support Member States in their efforts to

develop and update evidence-based guidelines for quality-assured screening and follow-up care

for breast, colorectal and cervical cancer.

In response, the European Commission Initiatives on Breast (ECIBC), Colorectal (ECICC),

and Cervical Cancer (EC-CvC) have been established4.

In December 2022, the Council Recommendation from 2003 was updated to include also

gastric, lung and prostate cancer. To support the updated Council Recommendation, the

Commission is now launching three new initiatives on Lung (EC-LuC), Gastric (EC-GaC) and

Prostate Cancer (EC-PrC).

The objective of the EC initiatives on cancer is to provide essential levels of quality care that

are equally accessible across Europe, by developing evidence-based guidelines extended to

primary prevention, screening and diagnosis of cancer as well as a voluntary quality assurance

scheme for cancer care services covering the entire care pathway. For breast cancer, the

guidelines5 and the European quality assurance scheme for breast cancer services6 are already

available for implementation in the Member States. To be implementable and serviceable, the

quality assurance schemes must have the flexibility to adapt to widely differing healthcare

infrastructures across Europe.

Contact persons for the EC Initiatives on Cancer

1 Council Recommendation on cancer screening of 2003 2 European Parliament resolution of 10 April 2008 on combating cancer in the enlarged European Union. 3 Council Conclusions on reducing the burden of cancer 4 https://cancer-screening-and-care.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en 5 https://cancer-screening-and-care.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en/ecibc/european-breast-cancer-guidelines 6 https://cancer-screening-and-care.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en/ecibc/breast-quality-assurance-scheme

To support the development of the guideline and quality assurance schemes, it is necessary to

receive information, such as on organisational aspects of how healthcare services are delivered

in Members States, and in turn to ensure that needs and concerns of the Member States are

taken into account. Such information may be available from outputs of finalised or ongoing

EU-funded project and Joint Actions.

For situations where information may not be yet readily available or be incomplete in the

project deliverables, it is necessary to identify a contact person in each Member State who

might be asked to provide feedback and/or advice regarding their national context on selected

topics relevant for the initiatives, such as:

• organisation of screening programmes, e.g. regional or national,

• national legislation and/or procedures in place regarding cancer screening, diagnostic

procedures, treatment options, etc.,

• certification and accreditation programmes in place for healthcare services,

• aspects regarding the implementation of the European cancer guidelines and/or quality

assurance schemes (feasibility of recommendations and/or requirements).

In particular, the contact persons should function as a first point of contact to be able to reach

out to the appropriate organisations, entities or others which could provide the EC initiatives

on cancer with the needed information (see above). Furthermore, the contact persons could be

asked to support the dissemination of the EC initiatives’ main outputs and important activities,

e.g. open calls for expression of interest to become members of the initiatives’ working groups.

Description of engagement:

• The contact persons will be contacted via email and not regularly.

• Feedback will be collected mostly through ad-hoc online surveys using the EU Survey

platform, which could also be forwarded by the contact persons to relevant players in the

specific field relevant to the subject matter.

• In the upcoming year it is foreseen that three surveys concerning organisational aspects

of how healthcare services are delivered in Members States will be launched, starting

from lung cancer, followed by prostate and gastric cancer.

• The overall workload should not exceed three days per calendar year

➔ We are kindly asking the Sub-group on Cancer to identify, including possibly among

the subgroups’ members, the Contact Person(s) for the six EC Initiatives on Cancer

Screening and Care, to support the initiatives in the above-described activities (one

contact person per Member State). Please provide the names and contact details of the

Contact Persons to [email protected] by the 11 July

2025.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE

DIRECTORATE F - HEALTH AND FOOD

Subject: Contact persons for the EC Initiatives on Cancer Screening and Care

This note provides Member States with the state of play of the European Guidelines on

Cancer Screening and Diagnosis and Quality Assurance Schemes, and asks to identify

contact persons for the EC Initiatives on Cancer Screening and Care.

Background:

In 2003, the Council of the EU identified the adoption of European guidelines as key for

ensuring the development of effective cancer screening programmes in the EU1. The Council

Recommendation on cancer screening recommended that Member States implement high

quality population-wide screening programmes for breast, colorectal and cervical cancer, along

with other principles of best practice in their early detection. In 2008, the European Parliament2

and Council3 further invited the Commission to support Member States in their efforts to

develop and update evidence-based guidelines for quality-assured screening and follow-up care

for breast, colorectal and cervical cancer.

In response, the European Commission Initiatives on Breast (ECIBC), Colorectal (ECICC),

and Cervical Cancer (EC-CvC) have been established4.

In December 2022, the Council Recommendation from 2003 was updated to include also

gastric, lung and prostate cancer. To support the updated Council Recommendation, the

Commission is now launching three new initiatives on Lung (EC-LuC), Gastric (EC-GaC) and

Prostate Cancer (EC-PrC).

The objective of the EC initiatives on cancer is to provide essential levels of quality care that

are equally accessible across Europe, by developing evidence-based guidelines extended to

primary prevention, screening and diagnosis of cancer as well as a voluntary quality assurance

scheme for cancer care services covering the entire care pathway. For breast cancer, the

guidelines5 and the European quality assurance scheme for breast cancer services6 are already

available for implementation in the Member States. To be implementable and serviceable, the

quality assurance schemes must have the flexibility to adapt to widely differing healthcare

infrastructures across Europe.

Contact persons for the EC Initiatives on Cancer

1 Council Recommendation on cancer screening of 2003 2 European Parliament resolution of 10 April 2008 on combating cancer in the enlarged European Union. 3 Council Conclusions on reducing the burden of cancer 4 https://cancer-screening-and-care.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en 5 https://cancer-screening-and-care.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en/ecibc/european-breast-cancer-guidelines 6 https://cancer-screening-and-care.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en/ecibc/breast-quality-assurance-scheme

To support the development of the guideline and quality assurance schemes, it is necessary to

receive information, such as on organisational aspects of how healthcare services are delivered

in Members States, and in turn to ensure that needs and concerns of the Member States are

taken into account. Such information may be available from outputs of finalised or ongoing

EU-funded project and Joint Actions.

For situations where information may not be yet readily available or be incomplete in the

project deliverables, it is necessary to identify a contact person in each Member State who

might be asked to provide feedback and/or advice regarding their national context on selected

topics relevant for the initiatives, such as:

• organisation of screening programmes, e.g. regional or national,

• national legislation and/or procedures in place regarding cancer screening, diagnostic

procedures, treatment options, etc.,

• certification and accreditation programmes in place for healthcare services,

• aspects regarding the implementation of the European cancer guidelines and/or quality

assurance schemes (feasibility of recommendations and/or requirements).

In particular, the contact persons should function as a first point of contact to be able to reach

out to the appropriate organisations, entities or others which could provide the EC initiatives

on cancer with the needed information (see above). Furthermore, the contact persons could be

asked to support the dissemination of the EC initiatives’ main outputs and important activities,

e.g. open calls for expression of interest to become members of the initiatives’ working groups.

Description of engagement:

• The contact persons will be contacted via email and not regularly.

• Feedback will be collected mostly through ad-hoc online surveys using the EU Survey

platform, which could also be forwarded by the contact persons to relevant players in the

specific field relevant to the subject matter.

• In the upcoming year it is foreseen that three surveys concerning organisational aspects

of how healthcare services are delivered in Members States will be launched, starting

from lung cancer, followed by prostate and gastric cancer.

• The overall workload should not exceed three days per calendar year

➔ We are kindly asking the Sub-group on Cancer to identify, including possibly among

the subgroups’ members, the Contact Person(s) for the six EC Initiatives on Cancer

Screening and Care, to support the initiatives in the above-described activities (one

contact person per Member State). Please provide the names and contact details of the

Contact Persons to [email protected] by the 11 July

2025.