Association Profile: Spanish Association for Healthcare Hospitality

Spanish Association for Healthcare Hospitality A.E.H.H was founded in 1998 when a group of people responsible for hospitality services gathered in a technical meeting organized by Novartis Consumer Health. Then, there was a challenge to create an association to spread all around the country and to attract those people working in the non-medical services (except engineering) within hospitals, geriatrics, and psychiatrics. Until then no similar association in Spain existed, though there were more than 900 hospitals in the country.

A.E.H.H. has the main purpose of studying and discussing technical and scientific aspects related to hospitality and general services (food service, laundry, cleaning, waste management, etc.) in healthcare institutions and establishing recommendations and best practices. In Spain, this is a diverse arena in which many different professionals take part.

Another objective is improving the knowledge, change experiences, and social relationships between those people who assume responsibilities related to hospitality and share an interest in discussing their technical problems and new developments in this field.

It is a non-profit, independent, and professional organization. The organization of A.E.H.H. is composed of the Executive Board and the General Assembly. The Executive Board is composed of the President, two Vice-Presidents, Secretary, Treasurer, and three other members. All of them serve on a volunteer basis.

There are several member categories:

Foundation members: (4); people who signed the constitution document.
Honour members: (3, at present); individuals recognized for their professional prestige and achievements in training and improvement in healthcare hospitality, chosen by the Board and approved by the General Assembly.
Numerical members: Individuals with a degree of responsibility and management in PUBLIC AND PRIVATE hospitality services; 180 members at this time.
Partners: Foodservice and equipment suppliers and private enterprises working in collective feeding; 46 associates currently.

Our association takes part in several activities, exhibitions, and other events, such as:

Courses and technical meetings
Participation in some private and public universities and other institutions
Presence in National and international Congresses
Some exhibitions (EXPO-REST, HOREQ)
Members of Spanish Quality Association (Vice-President of Tourism and Hospitality section).

Another annual activity is the celebration of the National Seminar. Since 1999, attendance has been increasing. The first meeting was in Toledo and, since then, the organisation has passed through Granada (2000), Salamanca (2001), Gijón (2002), Tarragona (2003), La Toja (2004), El Puerto de Santa María (2005), Santander (2006) and Zaragoza (2007). This year, 2008, it reaches its 10th edition. It will be held in Badajoz (southwest of Spain) in October 1-3. There, more than 450 people will discuss about the following topics:

Working as a team
Laundry and linen management innovations
Regional, national, and European food legislation
Leadership and professionalism
Equipment and after-sales maintenance; problems with suppliers
The new National Law about contracting goods and services
Healthcare hospitality in Portugal
Experiences in designing and functioning of new units
The competition of private/public self-management of catering
Personal experience as a patient

There will be also short communication sessions for hospital professionals and companies.

A.E.H.H. has a very close relationship with the main professional magazines and newspapers of the sector. It published its own magazine for seven years with a lot of success, but it left it to improve and develop its website: www.hosteleriahospitalaria.org.

More information is available by e-mail: secretaria@hosteleriahospitalaria.org or through our Technical Secretary rdebellis@papcongresos.es.

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