Tag: health care

"Patient involvement in health-related EU projects is fundamental to patient-centred, equitable healthcare throughout the EU. 'Meaningful patient involvement' means putting the patient at the centre of healthcare policy so that their specific knowledge and experience can feed into the decision-making process," writes Nicola Bedlington, director of the European Patients' Forum, in an exclusive commentary for EurActiv.

Computer modelling could be the key to solving major diseases such as cancer or Alzheimer's, according to the European Commission.

"Great benefits can be made by opening health sectors to trade and investment integration, but very few countries have undertaken such reforms," write Lucy Davis and Fredrik Erixon in a policy brief for the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE).

The European Commission is promoting hi-tech solutions to prevent chronic diseases and meet the health challenges of the 21st century. 

Tackling health threats such as avian flu and ensuring safe, efficient and equitable access to cross-border healtcare will be top priorities of the EU public health policy agenda in the years to come, predicted the Commission's public health director Andrzej Ryś in an interview with EurActiv. 

Being particularly vulnerable, the elderly are "often ignored and denied their full human rights," according to the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg, writing on the council's website on 28 April 2008.

Healthcare systems around the world will become unsustainable by 2015, unless governments adopt new accountability standards on how the money is being spent, argues an IBM report, echoing earlier calls for more transparency in public health funding.

Establishing electronic health records and connecting the information with hospital and remote environments such as the physician's office and private homes should be the top priorities for improving the quality of healthcare over the next two years, according to senior healthcare professionals.

The differences between the different European health care systems justify the mobilisation of stakeholders at EU level for obvious political and moral reasons, writes Arnaud Senn for the Robert Schuman Foundation.

A report presents government recommendations on how to invest taxpayers' money more effectively to improve the quality of health care and to ensure the financial sustainability of health systems.

As public and private healthcare were excluded from the services directive, the Commission has decided to set up a specific EU health services framework to guarantee cross-border access to health care.

The shortage of health workforce, especially nurses, is set to be a major challenge for the EU member states' health care systems. The new member states could be the most hit by health professionals leaving to work abroad.

Public spending on health and long-term care in OECD countries will double by 2050, according to projections are from a new OECD report entitled Projecting OECD health and long-term care expenditures: What are the main drivers? 

A health stakeholder platform, Health First Europe, has launched a book that set out visions of the future of healthcare policymaking. The authors describe their work as "thought-provoking".

The EuroHealth consumer Index 2005 ranks the national healthcare of the twelve largest European countries according to how 'user-friendly' they are.

Markos Kyprianou told EurActiv that promoting healthy lifestyles and mental health, as well as ensuring food safety, would be among his priorities as commissioner for health and consumer protection. He added that it was his ambition to have smoking bans introduced in all member states by the end of his term. 

Europe has to face enormous economic challenges (pensions, health care systems) due to its ageing population and shrinking workforce. At the same time, population ageing also poses social problems. The social context is gradually changing (more women at work, dispersed families) and old people are often left to face social exclusion. Differences in financing structures result in health inequalities among European countries, which diversity will further increase with upcoming rounds of EU enlargement.

In their contributions to the consultation on future EU health strategy, stakeholders have called for better co-ordination between public health and other policy areas, the need for more comparable data on the impact of investments in health and further debate on healthcare.

Representatives of the Commission, academia, industry, pharmacies and NGOs gathered on 16 October to discuss possible EU policy actions to improve the way health information is communicated to patients.