The European Board of Paediatric Urology:
The Joint Committee of Paediatric Urology
and the European Academy of Paediatric Urology

It was early 2002, as an initiative of the ESPU, that a committee of delegates of the European Board of Urology (EBU), the European Board of Paediatric Surgery, the European Society for Paediatric Urology and the secretary of the Union Européen des Médecins Spécialistes meet in Leuven, Belgium to form a board of Paediatric Urology and it was called the Joint Committee of Paediatric Urology (JCPU).

The delegates were for the EBU: Rien Nijman and Eamonn Kiely, for the EBPS: Olen Henrik Nielsen and Yves Aigrain, for the ESPU: Kelm Hjälmås and Guy Bogaert and for the UEMS: Cees Leibrandt. The JCPU choose unanimously Yves Aigrain as president and Guy Bogaert as secretary of the committee.

The goal of this Committee was to set a high standard of care for children with problems of the urinary and genital tract by setting standards for clinical caretakers of these children. It was not the goal to create a new medical specialty. As far as to our knowledge, the only country where Paediatric Urology is a recognised subspecialty is in the Czech Republic. However, in Poland, Austria, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Germany are defining centers for Paediatric Urology and the first official departments are now being recognised. It was therefore the first goal for this committee to attempt to set guidelines who would be able to carry a title of added qualification in Paediatric Urology. The current situation in the countries where the UEMS guidelines apply is that specialists trained in either Urology or Paediatric surgery care for children with Paediatric Urology problems. It was therefore also stated that the care of children should take place in a special Paediatric Unit of the hospital according to the charter of the rights of the child.

Similar to the European Board of Paediatric Surgery it was decided that a transition period for caretakers who currently are practising as Paediatric Urologists in the UEMS affiliated countries should enable them to be recognised as such. The Joint Committee has chosen a transition period from 2004-2007.

Structure of the Multidisciplinary Joint Committee of Paediatric Urology
UEMS