Vascular Surgery: Independence and Identity as a Monospecialty in Europe

Abstract

Vascular surgery (VS) in Europe has, for many years, been a kind of subspecialty of General Surgery or Cardiac Surgery—depending on national or local situations. At present it is an independent monospecialty in only eight out of 15 of the ‘old’ Member Countries of the European Union (EU) and presumably only in one of the 10 ‘new’ ones. Encouraging news is that the Swedish Government decided on 20 December 2005 to admit Vascular Surgery as a subspecialty despite their general decision to cut down on specialties. Hopeful news is also being received from Germany but the ultimate decision is still pending. In 1993, within the Union Europeenne des Medecins Specialistes (UEMS), a Division of Vascular Surgery was established in association with, and dependent on, the Section of Surgery; in 1996 a Board of Vascular Surgery was formed as a function of the Division, and the first assessment was held as a European Board of Surgery Qualification in Vascular Surgery (EBSQVasc). Then on October 15, 2004 in Lisbon the Management Council of the UEMS (its central governing body) recognized VS as a monospecialty granting it the status of an independent Section. This decision took place following applications from the national medical associations of Finland, Italy, Denmark, Greece, Portugal and Slovakia—and after a heated debate and the defence presented by the authors. The Section of VS proceeded, through its Board, to refine the assessment that now awards the title of Fellow of the European Board of VS (FEBVS) to successful candidates. The