The project aims to develop Good Tissue Practices (Euro-GTPs Guide) and Personnel Training Guidelines for Tissue Establishments (TE) regarding recovery, processing and preservation of tissues, in order to ensure that all TEs guarantee the highest level of quality and safety of tissues for transplant.
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The Congress will contribute to the IAPO Strategic Objectives set out in the Strategic Plan 2010-2014 (www.patientsorganizations.org/development) in the following ways:

Strategic Objective 1: Engagement
Participants understand the value of patient engagement
A wide range of healthcare stakeholders understand the role of patients in healthcare research
A wide range of healthcare stakeholders understand the role of patients in all types and phases of healthcare decision-making
IAPO highlights its policy positions according to policy strategy

Strategic Objective 2: Voice
IAPO Members highlight their priority issues and activities to a wide audience
Patient advocates feel supported by IAPO and more able to engage in international, regional and national decision-making and research processes
Key stakeholders consider that IAPO represents the global patients` voice

Strategic Objective 3: Member-led
Provide opportunities to involve IAPO Members in IAPO’s work
Communicate to members the benefits of the opportunities available to them
Communicate developments in IAPO’s work to members
Demonstrate the relevance and role of partnerships between patients’ organizations
Demonstrate the relevance, value and role of networks between patients` organizations
Support exchange, learning and joint working between members towards patient-centred healthcare
Patients` organizations feel more able to articulate and advocate for patient-centred healthcare

Strategic Objective 4: Sustainability
Encourage patients’ organizations to join IAPO
Communicate IAPO’s value to members
Communicate what IAPO is doing on behalf of members and what impact it is having on them
Promote longer term commitments from donors
Encourage partnerships and support between organizations

Learning Outcomes
a) Develop the knowledge and understanding amongst patients` organizations on current healthcare issues such as counterfeit medicines, non-communicable diseases and health technology assessment amongst others
b) Develop the capacity of patients` organizations to promote patient-centred healthcare and influence the decisions that affect them at the local, national, regional and international level

Networking Outcomes
c) Develop new and strengthen existing patients’ organizations networks so that they can have a strong unified voice
d) Provide ongoing support and opportunities through IAPO to contribute to the global patients voice in key meetings and policy consultations, and through ongoing capacity support and resources
e) Develop networks and initiate working relationships between patients` organizations and other healthcare stakeholders (policy makers, health professionals, industry representatives and academics/researchers)
f) Raise the profile of IAPO with healthcare stakeholders


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The aim of this Action is to support EU Member States (MS) in developing and strengthening their capacity for monitoring and control in the field of blood transfusion and tissue and cell transplantation. 7 core work-packages (WP) have been defined. WP4 will explore commonalities between vigilance reporting in these fields, identifying opportunities for harmonising procedures. WP5 will increase the sharing of vigilance information of didactic value in order to achieve higher standards of quality and safety across blood, tissues and cells, as well as defining regulatory principles for short and long term follow up of recipients of blood, tissues and cells that have been prepared with newly developed and validated processes. WP6 will focus on the development of common Inspection Guidelines for EU Competent Authorities responsible for the inspection and authorization of blood and tissue establishments. The main objective is the identification of a common framework for the conduct of inspections of blood and tissue establishments, developing a common approach with sharing of procedures across MS. The educational profile, basic competencies and specific skills required by MS for the respective inspectors in these fields will be defined in WP7. This action will include a number of initiatives aimed at increasing the interaction between inspectors from different MS including inspector training, a framework for joint inspections by multi-MS teams (WP8), a pilot for regional inspections and the creation of an inter-MS (WP9) inspection system auditing programme. The impact of these activities will be greatly increased by virtue of their conduct across the fields of blood, tissues and cells and ART. Greater inter-MS circulation of tissues and cells will also be facilitated by this action through support for the harmonised implementation of the Single European Code (WP10) and its associated compendia of tissue establishments and tissue and cell products.
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