Healthcare Providers

Healthcare Providers

At present, ERN eUROGEN comprises 56 Healthcare Provider (HCP) Full Members and Affiliated Partners (Associated National Centers and National Coordination Hubs) from 20 Member States. Each year, these HCPs care for around 12,500 patients diagnosed with rare urological diseases and complex conditions within the network’s Workstreams and Expertise Areas.

The members use a hub and spoke model at the national level, referring rare or complex cases from a primary/secondary local centre to a tertiary centre, broadening coverage and reaching more HCPs and patients depending on national healthcare systems and policies.

Map

Full Members

Affiliated Partners – Associated National Centres

Affiliated Partners – National Coordination Hubs

Full Members

ERN full members are assessed and proven to meet the criteria in EC delegated decision 2014/286/EU. These criteria identify Excellence Centres across the EU/EEA that: have enough patients according to the best practice information available, have expertise recognised at the national level by the Ministry of Health, and have expertise recognised at the European level. For some of its Expertise Areas, ERN eUROGEN has set further specific criteria which are required for full members.

At its launch in 2017, ERN eUROGEN consisted of 29 healthcare providers (HCPs) as full members. The UK withdrawal from the European Union took effect on 1 January 2021, and six UK healthcare providers ceased to be part of the network. However, ERN eUROGEN continues to collaborate with individual UK-based clinicians as Supporting Partners.

Following a 2019 call, new HCPs applied to join existing ERNs. ERN eUROGEN carried out an internal peer review, a sample was assessed by the Independent Assessment Body, and all applicants were reviewed by the Board of Member States for ERNs (BoMS) who made their final decision. 30 new full members joined ERN eUROGEN on 1 January 2022 (some of these new Full Members were previously Affiliated Partners).

Following the first five-year evaluation of the ERNs in 2023, one full member withdrew, giving a current total of 51 full member HCPs. These are listed below.

Each Full Member:

  • is represented by an HCP Representative and HCP Sub-Representative
  • is asked to signify agreement with the Governance Statutes by the signature of the HCP Representative
  • takes part in the activities of the workstreams and work packages,
  • participates in the ERN eUROGEN Strategic Board with one vote to cast and funding for attendance at physical Board meetings provided for one HCP representative or proxy,
  • is obligated to return annual data on ERN eUROGEN-related activity according to the monitoring and assessment system for the ERNs.

🇦🇹 Austria (AT):

🇧🇪 Belgium (BE): 

🇭🇷 Croatia (HR):

🇨🇿 Czechia (CZ):

🇩🇰 Denmark (DK):

🇫🇮 Finland (FI):

🇫🇷 France (FR):

🇩🇪 Germany (DE):

🇮🇹 Italy (IT):

🇱🇹 Lithuania (LT):

🇳🇱 Netherlands (NL):

🇵🇱 Poland (PL):

🇵🇹 Portugal (PT):

🇪🇸 Spain (ES):

🇸🇪 Sweden (SE):

Affiliated Partners

In 2019, two types of Affiliated Partners (Associated National Centres and National Coordination Hubs) were designated to work with ERNs by the Board of Member States for ERNs (BoMS) in EU/EEA Member States where no Full Members exist, usually in countries with small populations that therefore could not comply with the requirements to become Full Members.

Each ERN eUROGEN Affiliated Partner (AP):

  • is represented by an AP Representative and AP Sub-Representative
  • is asked to signify agreement with the Governance Statutes by the signature of the AP Representative
  • takes part in the activities of the workstreams and work packages,
  • is invited to participate in the ERN eUROGEN Strategic Board, but has no voting rights and funding for attendance at physical Board meetings for one AP representative or proxy depends on budget availability,
  • is obligated to return annual data on ERN eUROGEN-related activity according to the monitoring and assessment system for the ERNs.

ERN eUROGEN’s current Associated National Centres and National Coordination Hubs are listed below.

Associated National Centres

ERN eUROGEN received ANC designations from Latvia, Austria, Croatia, and Spain. Some of these took part in the 2019 call to become full members. The remaining ANCs are listed below:

🇱🇻 Latvia (LV):

National Coordination Hubs

ERN eUROGEN received HUB designations from Hungary, Luxembourg, Malta, and Slovenia. These HUBs are listed below:

🇭🇺 Hungary (HU):

🇱🇺 Luxembourg (LU):

🇲🇹 Malta (MT):

🇸🇮 Slovenia (SI):

Non-Compliance & Termination

ERN eUROGEN has a Non-Compliance & Termination Procedure for HCPs in case expertise is not maintained, there is insufficient participation in ERN activities, or there are ethical/legal concerns or transparency issues. If unresolved, the Coordination Team asks the Strategic Board to vote, and member termination proceeds following EC regulations.