The hospital environment can be a frightening experience for patients, who may find themselves in a vulnerable position, ill, worried or in pain, but they can now count on hospital pharmacists to support them. During their recent Brussels Summit, EAHP worked together with key stakeholders to produce a ground breaking set of Statements that will ensure patients get the best possible care from their hospital pharmacists. This could be life-saving. (Hildrun Sundseth, President of the European Institute of Women's Health)

‘No decision about me, without me’ is an effective current expression used to highlight the need for greater patient involvement in the decisions that will ultimately impact them in the fullest sense of the word. It's a call that EAHP recognises and appreciates, and with this in mind, from the moment the concept of the European Summit on Hospital Pharmacy first emerged, the Steering Committee knew that it wanted the decisions about the future of hospital pharmacy in Europe to be of a shared nature. A definitive set of statements on the future of hospital pharmacy should be made not only by hospital pharmacists, but also in conjunction with patients, and indeed the other healthcare professionals hospital pharmacists work alongside in the hospital environment.

So from the summer of 2013 the recruitment of European patient and healthcare professional organisations began in earnest. This involved letters of invitation, in person meetings, emails and telephone calls until, by the time the first round of Delphi consultation opened in Autumn 2013, a total of 34 organisations had confirmed their interest in helping to shape future European Statements of Hospital Pharmacy (table 1).

The conduct and results of the Delphi …