One of the core activities of EBCOG is the assessment of quality of training in general Obstetrics & Gynaecology and the four subspecialties by means of hospital visiting in order to harmonise training across the EU.

It has always been EBCOG's policy to conduct a series of hospital visits (audits) in each EU country and thereafter has supported the development of a national auditing & accreditation (A&A) system by training senior colleagues in these countries to take over this task. As a result, such a system is now in place for training programmes in general Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Norway, Finland, France and Portugal.

Some countries already had adopted a national A&A system before the introduction of hospital visiting by EBCOG. These include The UK, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden and The Netherlands.

In all these countries, departments accredited by their national A&A authority may apply for additional accreditation by EBCOG without the need for an EBCOG site visit. The EBCOG accreditation is then granted once all the evidence has been accessed. In such case, both accreditations run together for a fixed duration.

It is our aim that in future all national societies in their respective countries would develop a well functioning national auditing and accreditation system. Such a development would be fully supported by EBCOG.

Countries with a well functioning audit and accreditation system in place (alphabetical order)

• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• Ireland
• The Netherlands
• Norway
• Portugal
• Sweden
• United Kingdom