General practice/family medicine core values in the European region

Abstract

WONCA Europe represents 47 member organisations from 43 countries depicting a broad diversity culturally and socioeconomically, as well as in healthcare systems and working conditions. Attempts to define common European family medicine core values and principles started over 60 years ago in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In 2002, WONCA Europe published their first ‘European Definition of General Practice/Family Medicine’, which outlined core professional competencies and learning approaches in the discipline. It was illustrated by the ‘WONCA Tree’ in 2005. Core values were not mentioned explicitly. Following a brainstorming process, the WONCA Europe Council endorsed an explicit description on its vision, mission, core values, and principles in 2022. This chapter describes the outcome of a workshop at the WONCA Europe conference in 2024, followed by a survey exploring to what extent this document is known to European family doctors and how it influences their daily work. Lack of resources and bureaucracy were identified as the greatest hindrances, whereas better practice organisation and improved knowledge are facilitators. The conclusion is that there is a long way to go to achieve a broad implementation of the WONCA Europe core values and principles.