MEETINGS       

Update From Wonca's International Classification Committee

In the past 12 months the Wonca International Classification Committee (WICC) has been active by correspondence through e-mail. A 4-day meeting of 28 representatives from 18 countries was held in Vincennes, Paris in September 2001. This is an update on the key Committee projects and available products.

Wonca Signs National Licensing Agreement with Belgium for ICPC-2

Wonca signed a National Licensing Agreement with the Belgium government for the use of ICPC-2 in Belgium. Wonca received a significant licensing fee based on the Schedule of National Licensing Fees worked out by Graeme Miller and used these past years by Wonca in its negotiations with interested parties. Special thanks to Wonca CEO Alfred Loh, Marc Jamoulle and Jan de Maeseneer for this result. Wonca is currently in negotiations with the Portugese Government for a similar agreement.

ICPC-2 Enhancements Continue

WICC has continued to work with the electronic version - ICPC-2-E - and especially with the conversion structure between ICPC-2 and ICD-10. The ICPC-2 book with the corrections from Family Practice is being translated to a number of different languages: Catalan (Spanish), Chinese, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and Russian. A number of translations are under way: Norwegian, Finish, and Slovenian.

Meetings have been held with WHO to see if it is possible to include ICPC-2 into the WHO Family of Classifications. Two meetings have been held in 2001, and a joint working group with Marrti Virtanen as convenor, has been established. Its task is to look at the implications of ICF (International Classification of Function) for relevant areas of ICPC-2, possibilities to complement ICD-10 in the area of reason for encounter and consideration of rubrics that map to more than one ICPC-2 code. To look at the possibilities for a joint effort to develop an international classification of healthcare procedures and the applicability of ICPC-2 as a classification of primary care beyond general practice. Further meetings are to be held in 2002, with the aim of presenting a working document for further collaboration at the WHO Centre of Heads meeting in Triest in April and later in Brisbane 2002 and at the WICC meeting in Sydney 2002.

The Wonca International Dictionary of Family Practice is finished and ready for printing. The Danish "Maanedsskrift for Praktisk Lægegerning" has agreed to cover the printing cost and help distribute the first 1,000 copies. They will also ensure quality control and make a PDF-file, so that Wonca can make the Dictionary available on its web site. The draft has been distributed to all Wonca Executives and WICC members, and only a few, but positive, comments have been received.

Paris meeting.

WICC held a four-day meeting in Vincennes in Paris from 9th to 13th of September 2001, which was attended by 28 participants from 18 countries. It was stated that the main aim for WICC is to: "develop, update and distribute systems, which enables international communication about the work with patients in general/family practice."

Distribution of ICPC-2-E, translations and the ICPC-2 to ICD-10 conversion, was the main business of the meeting. Ten working groups have been formed, and their work was reported. Five papers were presented, all related to classification and ICPC. The strategy for publication and distribution of the Wonca International Dictionary for Family Doctors was discussed. The WICC web site was discussed in relation to the development of the new Wonca web site.

ICPC-2

The ICPC-2 book sold by OUP is now in limited stock, and agreement with OUP regarding a second edition should be reached. That must be updated with regard to the ICPC-2/ICD-10 conversion table, and the corrections to Chapter 10. All translators now have signed an agreement with the CEO, and the translations are checked by WICC. An updated conversion structure between ICPC-2 and ICD-10 is available in the new electronic version of ICPC-2-E.

Professor Niels Bentzen, Chair, WICC

Collaborating Centres

FMRC in Sydney is implementing ICPC-2 and ICPC-2-Plus in South East Asia, and appears to be successful in promoting ICPC-2 in Australia. The collaborating centre between University of Amsterdam and University of Newcastle is looking at the linkages possibilities between ICPC-2 and all other major classifications such as ICD-10, ICD-10-CM, Read codes, SNOMED, Encode-FM, ICPC- Plus and ICF.

Wonca International Dictionary for Family Doctors

The Dictionary is being made ready for printing. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and Maanedsskrift for Praktisk Laegegerning in Denmark (A monthly journal for General Practitioners in Scandinavia) was approached regarding printing. The latter came up with the most reasonable offer. Maanedsskrift would also carry the cost of proof reading, printing and help distributing the Dictionary. The price of a good quality booklet would be 20 US$ per copy including postage. The Dictionary is expected to be available in the middle of 2002.

Bibliography

A large bibliography containing all known articles (more than 350) where ICPC is mentioned, has been collected. The references will be put on standardised format for easy access through the WICC web site, which is accessed through www.GlobalFamilyDoctor.com . In addition to the scientific articles a number of thesis and software and electronic publications has been published.

WHO Collboration

Two meetings have been held in 2001 and three are planned in 2002 between WICC and WHO Centre of Heads responsible for the Collaboration Centres of Classification. The topic for the talks are whether WHO can accept that ICPC-2 is a member of the WHO Family of Classifications, covering the field of classification in primary care (for doctors) and reason for encounter (patients). The classification people in WHO have no experience from Family Practice, and it is therefore very difficult for them to understand the difference between an endpoint classification - the ICD-10 and an episode classification - the ICPC-2. A working group with 3 persons from WHO and 3 from WICC is trying to bridge the gap.

Regional activities

The French-speaking members of WICC, has established a very active CISP(ICPC in French) club, which is promoting ICPC-2 to family doctors in France and to a lot of new countries in the French speaking part of the world. It is also arranging meetings and courses regarding the use of CISP.

The Asia Pacific Classification Committee is active both at Wonca regional meetings and corresponding about ICPC, translations and other relevant issues.

New Members Welcomed

New members from Israel, Finland, Spain, Greece, Romania, Switzerland and Belgium attended the WICC meeting in Paris. A member from China (Hong Kong) could not attend, and a new member from Russia has been welcomed. They have been accepted on the mailing list, under the condition that they are not representing anybody, but are interested in classification problems, and want to work with these through electronic communication between meetings and at the yearly WICC meeting.

Upcoming Meetings

The yearly meeting will be held in Sydney from the 22nd to 26th of September, arranged by Helena Britt and Graeme Miller. The meeting in 2003 will be held in Malta arranged by Jean Karl Soler.

Niels Bentzen
Chair, WICC