About us

ESQH is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the improvement of quality in European healthcare.

It consists of 20 members, all of whom are National Societies for Quality in Healthcare, from the following countries:

1. Croatia
2. Czech Republic
3. Denmark
4. Finland
5. France
6. Germany
7. Greece
8. Ireland
9. Italy
10. Lithuania
11. Luxembourg
12. The Netherlands
13. Norway
14. Poland
15. Portugal
16. Spain
17. Sweden
18. Turkey
19. The UK
20. Egypt


The ESQH Secretariat is based in Limerick, Ireland, and is staffed by the Executive Officer, Noel Harrington.

The ESQH Project Manager, Benno van Beek works out of the Brussels Liaison Office.


(See 'ESQH Offices' pages for more information on the 11 different Offices).

How ESQH operates

ESQH is a voluntary Society, registered for charity within the Republic of Ireland.

Funding is received from the Irish Department of Health & Children, the Dutch Ministry of Health & Welfare, and from members' subscriptions.

Each member Society of ESQH nominates one person to sit on the Council. From the Council, 8 members are chosen to sit on the Executive Board.

The current Board has the following members:

President Paul Bartels, Denmark
Vice-president Basia Kutryba, Poland
Board Member Suzana Parente, Portugal
Board Member Anastasius Moumtzoglou, Greece
Board Member Mary Morrissey, Ireland
Board Member Laimutis Paskevicius, Lithuania
Board Member Charles Shaw, UK
Board Member Jasna Mesaric, Croatia

ESQH Activities

ESQH organises two international Workshops per year, usually dedicated to a single topic, and hosted by one of the Member Societies.



1. Information & Implementation - Solothurn Switzerland Spring 1999

2. Training & Education - Sicily Autumn 1999

3. The EU & Health - Utrecht, Netherlands Spring 2000

4. Leading, Learning & Change - Dublin Autumn 2000

5. Patient Participation - Balaton, Hungary Spring 2001

6. European Collaboration - Brussels Autumn 2001

7. 1st Network Conference* - Seville, Spain Spring 2002

8. Leadership - Paris Autumn 2002

9. Indicators & Guidelines† - Krakow, Poland Spring 2003

10. 2nd Network Conference* - Udine, Italy Autumn 2003

11. IT & Quality in Healthcare** - Lahti, Finland, Summer 2004

12. Accelerating Quality Improvement - Hannover, Germany Spring 2005

13. 3rd Network Conference, Zagreb, Croatia, Autumn 2005.

14. "Spring Gathering", Haarlem, The Netherlands, Spring 2006

15. "Making the most of a Quality Network", Porto, Portugal, Spring 2007.

16. "New Competencies for Healthcare Systems", Barcelona, Spain, Autumn 2007.

17. "Innovative Models of Interprofessional Cooperation", Hamburg, Germany, Spring 2008.

18. "Patient Safety", London, Autumn 2008.

19. "Accelerating Patient Empowerment", Rome, Spring 2009

20. "EU Developments in Quality of Healthcare," Dublin, Autumn 2009.

* A Network Conference is a 2 or 3 day Workshop where ESQH brings as many of its members together as possible, and each of the Working Groups gets a chance to meet and present progress reports. Other organisations are also invited to send representatives, and possible collaborative projects are discussed.

† The Krakow Workshop was held in partnership with GIN, Guidelines International Network and EurAPCo, European Alliance Partners Company.

** The Lahti Workshop was held in partnership with EHTEL, the European Health Telematics Association.


PLEASE CLICK ON THE DOCUMENTS LINK BELOW TO ACCESS OUR 'VISION 2006 - 2009'. This document detailed the priorities ESQH set for itself for that 3-year period. A new Vision 2010 - 2015 will be formulated at a special meeting in Padua, Italy, in March 2010.