Safeguarding the highest standards of training and qualification for Europe’s General Practitioners/Family Physicians
UEMO expresses growing concern that, in several European countries, jurisdictions are still permitting doctors who have not completed an accredited specialist training programme in general practice/family medicine to be recruited to work independently and without the relevant qualifications in general practice/family medicine. These arrangements place patients at risk, undermine the quality of care, and weaken the long-term resilience of health systems. It is essential that all European residents—regardless of the European country in which they live—can rely on high quality general practice/family medicine delivered by fully trained qualified and accredited general practitioners/family physicians.
We reaffirm our commitment to ensuring the highest possible standards of education, training, and professional qualification of general practitioners/family physicians across Europe.
General Practice/Family Medicine is the cornerstone of strong, safe and equitable health systems. High quality General Practice/Family Medicine depends on physicians specifically trained to manage complexity, uncertainty, continuity of care, multimorbidity, prevention, and community-oriented general practice/family medicine. Such levels of competence cannot be achieved without an accredited qualification arising from successful completion of a
- structured, professionally supervised, and accredited postgraduate training programme specifically designed for General Practice/Family Medicine
- conducted in an approved training environment
- culminating in a suitably structured validated and reproducible exit assessment and examination.
UEMO strongly advocates that postgraduate training in General Practice/Family Medicine must take place within an accredited training programme recognised by the competent national authorities and compliant with European standards to ensure consistent educational standards, professional supervision, and assessment. Professional mobility of doctors within Europe must be accompanied by consistent standards of training, competence and approach to patient safety.
Over the past 25 years, despite the widespread recognition at the national level, General Practice/Family Medicine remains the only established medical specialty not included in Annex V 5.1.3 of the Professional Qualifications Directive 2005/36/EC. This broad consensus should now be fully reflected in EU legislation. We therefore call on the European Commission and the European Parliament to update the Professional Qualifications Directive by including General Practice/Family Medicine in the clause 5.1.3 of the Annex V, alongside all other medical specialties. This step is essential to guarantee harmonised standards, strengthen professional mobility, and protect the quality and safety of general practice/family medicine across Europe.
UEMO urges EU decision makers to act decisively to amend the legislation without further delay. Europe’s citizens deserve general practice/family medicine provided by appropriately trained specialists. The future of general practice/family medicine, the safety of our populations and the sustainability and effectiveness of our healthcare systems depend on it.
6 June 2026, Luxembourg
