Health First Europe: “The State of Health in Europe”

Citation

(2013), "Health First Europe: “The State of Health in Europe”", Leadership in Health Services, Vol. 26 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHS.21126daa.003

Health First Europe: “The State of Health in Europe”

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News and views

From:

Leadership in Health Services, Volume 26, Issue 4

Keywords: European health policy, Health care improvement and patient safety, Health innovation and prevention of disease

As part of its 2013 Annual General Meeting, Health First Europe brought together leaders in European health policy to discuss the current state of health in Europe. With the support of MEPs Marina Yannakoudakis (ECR, UK), Rebecca Taylor, (ALDE, UK) and Sean Kelly (EPP, Ireland), the event included a variety of health stakeholders to discuss current issues for patients including patient safety, the medical devices directive, and innovation in healthcare.

Outlining the importance of healthcare for Europe, Health First Europe Honorary President John Bowis introduced the audience to the work of HFE in 2013, specifically HFE’s continued commitment to protect patients from unnecessary harm, working towards balancing safety and access to medical innovations and supporting the shift from acute to community care with great adoption of technologies. He noted, “As ever, Health First Europe remains committed to improving the current state of health in Europe in 2013.”

Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner Tonio Borg provided the keynote speech addressing how the European Commission aims to facilitate innovation in healthcare – not only to meet current demographic challenges, but to drive economic growth and job creation. Commissioner Borg reiterated the need to see health “as an opportunity” and to “see health as a value in itself.” He discussed how the term “austerity” is impacting the thinking about healthcare, saying “if we only speak about austerity, it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

To offset discussions of austerity, the Commissioner highlighted how he is focused on encouraging innovation particularly in healthcare because of the potential for growth and jobs in the health sector. Specifically, Commissioner Borg shared the position of the European Commission on the proposal for the medical devices directive, stating, “We need to strike the right balance between innovation and safety.” He also expressed the importance of greater education for healthcare professionals to improve safety for patients and thanked Health First Europe for its ongoing commitment to protecting patients.

Building upon the issues discussed by the Commissioner, the panel debate with HFE Patron David Byrne and MEPs Marina Yannakoudakis (ECR, UK), Rebecca Taylor, (ALDE, UK) and Sean Kelly further solidified the importance of HFE’s key issues around patient safety and access to innovation. As shadows on the report, MEPs Yannakoudakis and Taylor both discussed their concerns about the changes to the European Commission’s initial proposal. Mrs Yannakoudakis declared the need “for a high level of patient safety without compromising innovation in the healthcare sector.” Ms Taylor concurred and further expressed,” I am not convinced that regulating medical devices like pharmaceuticals is the way forward.”

Innovation was a key theme during the debate and MEP Sean Kelly furthered the discussion by bringing up the issue of personalised medicine and health data for science and research. He stated that he wants to see people think of “donating data as they think of donating an organ” in order to advance eHealth and the use of technology in healthcare. He also called for increased emphasis on prevention, specifically for funding in Horizon 2020 which he believes should include “50 per cent funding dedicated to cure, 50 per cent dedicated to prevention.”

Discussing issues of safety and innovation, HFE Patron David Byrne shared his experience as the former EU Health Commissioner and his view that “there is more information about beaches in Europe than there is about safety of hospitals.” He declared that “the biggest influencing factor on patient safety in the EU is the Patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare directive. Information on services, safety and transparency of healthcare must increase” under this new legislation which he suggested was the “biggest step forward” for safety in the EU.

The experts participating in The State of Health in Europe agreed that improving the state of health should include a much greater focus on prevention as we move forward and look to tackle health challenges through the development and use of medical innovations. As Mr Byrne concluded, “the links between technology and health have enormous potential for patients and for the EU.”

For more information: http://www.healthfirsteurope.org