EQuiP wants to improve the quality and safety of patient care in general practices throughout Europe.

It was founded in 1991, and Klemenc says it has gone through several phases.

 

In its first years, EQuiP focused on research and developing instruments for measuring quality and safety, including Europep, the questionnaire for measuring patient satisfaction. That’s just one of EQuiP’s brainchildren, as is the Maturity Matrix, a matrix for assessing one’s practice.

 

The second phase was the reflection phase. ”Then we established working groups on different topics and the EQuiP Summer School,” Klemenc explains. "And now we are in the third phase, the networking phase. We used to be a closed group, but now any individual or organization can become an EQuiP member. We also try to cooperate with other organizations. We hope to increase the brainpower of our organization and disseminate more knowledge on safety and quality in general practices."

 

Klemenc also wants to re-establish research as an EQuiP focal point. "Research has always been part of our mission, but in the past few years, it received a little less attention. With EGPRN, another WONCA organization, we have now established a research working group on person-centred care."