Perspective: Patients to the front!

The “Europe for Patients” campaign aims at empowering patients to take (joint) responsibility for their medical treatment. But does it have anything to do with ICT for health? By Philipp Grätzel von Grätz.

Published: 10/23/2008

BERLIN, GERMANY - (HealthTech Wire / Perspective) - With the Europe for Patients campaign, the European Commission (EC) has launched an initiative and a website which aim to make it clear to the public what the EC does or is planning to do in the field of healthcare. Although it is not an e-health campaign in itself, it is relevant to the sphere of health-IT.

“We have realised that the European Commission has many interesting ideas and initiatives in the pipeline. But EU citizens are not familiar with them. This is why we are launching the Europe for Patients campaign,” said Androula Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Health at the European Commission Health and Consumer Protection Directorate-General (DG SANCO). “All across Europe, surveys show that people are crying out for more information on health issues. I think that we have a responsibility to address this need,” said Vassiliou.

One key aspect of the campaign and the accompanying website www.health.europa.eu/efp focuses on informing European citizens about a number of health initiatives that the EC is undertaking in the next six to nine months. “These initiatives address crucial issues such as cancer screening, patient safety and rare diseases, as well as antibiotic resistance and the health workforce,” said Vassiliou. Other topics include the adoption of quality and safety measures for organ donation and transplantation and the launch of an action plan to address organ shortage in Europe. “In essence, the campaign is about clarifying and simplifying our messages. And the overall focus is on improving healthcare for everyone in Europe.”

Which sounds good, but does it have anything to do with ICT for health? It does indeed, when you dig further. Anders Olauson, president of the European Patient Forum, hit the nail on the head when he made a statement at the launch event of Europe for Patients: the goal, he stressed, must be “to empower patients and also to give patients more power to rule their own lives and to take responsibility.”

Empowering patients, giving them access to medical information and enabling them to take (joint) responsibility for their medical treatment – these are the key themes of e-health throughout Europe and beyond. Electronic patient records, health portals for citizens or ICT-assisted homecare projects will only work with patients who know about diseases and risk factors and who are willing to take responsibility for their health as well as for the management of their illnesses.

So critical points are raising awareness for health topics or – in this case – European health initiatives, and providing the tools for accessing personal medical information and for making this information available to health practitioners in whichever country a person currently happens to be. The latter is a genuine e-health concern, and European projects such as the SOS project for cross-border interoperability are now starting to tackle the issue in parallel to the Europe for Patients campaign.

The third relevant factor – in Europe in particular – is to provide for the legal framework so that the mentally empowered and digitally equipped patient not only has the power but is also allowed to use it. So it’s good to hear that one of the initiatives under the umbrella of the Europe for Patients campaign is the Cross-border Healthcare initiative. After all, international e-health projects won’t work if it is not clear who pays for treatment in other countries or who is responsible for the quality of care when cross-border services are used. Europe for Patients? A long way to go. But the new campaign is certainly a good place to start.  (HTW)

Philipp Grätzel von Grätz is a leading European eHealth journalist, author and news reporter. Building on his education as a physician, Philipp advocates the application of information technologies in healthcare. He manages HealthTech Wire’s GoDirect: ICT for Health news channel at www.healthtechwire.com/ictforhealth.   

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