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Strengthening Primary Care Through Policy: Collaborative Efforts to Secure EU Specialty Status for Family Medicine

Sara ARES-BLANCO, Helena ALONSO VALENCIA, Radost ASSENOVA, Pilar ASTIER PEÑA, Marina GUISADO-CLAVERO, Raquel GÓMEZ-BRAVO, Veronica RASIC, Andree ROCHFORT and Alex HARDING

General Practice/Family Medicine (GP/FM) is a fully accredited medical specialty requiring 3–6 years of postgraduate training across the EU. Yet, GP/FM remains listed in Annex 5.1.3 of the Professional Qualifications Directive at the EU legislation, meaning it is still not recognised as a specialty at EU level. This work aims to explain why this gap persists, outline the ongoing coordinated policy advocacy, and describe what EU-level recognition could bring in terms of training quality, safety, and care equity.