EUROPEAN PATIENTS’ RIGHTS DAY 2016

10th  European Patients’ Rights Day

Reducing waste and inefficiency in the healthcare systems, increasing quality of patient care

The 2016 European conference of the European Patients’ Rights Day focused on the fight against waste and inefficiency in healthcare systems in Europe and on the best practices to increase the efficacy and the quality of patient care.
It has been held on Wednesday, May 4th in Brussels at the European Parliament co-hosted by MEP David Borrelli, co-Chair of the EFDD Group and MEP Pier Nicola Pedicini, EFDD ENVI Committee Coordinator. The participants were leaders of civic and patient organizations coming from 25 Countries, some of them outside the European Union, such us Albania, Russia, Macedonia, Switzerland. With them, many representatives and leaders of 18 networks at EU level, professionals and experts, companies and providers, public relation agencies and other relevant stakeholders.

During the conference has been analyzed what has been done and what is been doing about it all around Europe and what is the role and the contribution of public and private sectors on it, as well as the ones of the civic society and patient organizations. It has been be also distributed the report of the European research carried out to find the good practices in this context. Some of the gathered good practices were showed and discussed.

The registration of the entire event could be seen here

The biographies of the speakers can be read here

Here below the programme and all the showed presentations:

10th  European Patients’ Rights Day

Reducing waste and inefficiency in the healthcare systems, increasing quality of patient care

4 May 2016, 09:30 - 13:30
European Parliament, Brussels - Room ASP A1E2

PROGRAMME

Chair: Neil Betteridge - independent health consultant

09:30 - 10:00 Opening Remarks and keynote Presentations

MEP David Borrelli - Co-Chair of the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy Group
MEP Piernicola Pedicini - EFDD ENVI Committee Coordinator
Mariano Votta - Director of Active Citizenship Network

10:00 - 10:40 Overview

‎Stéphane Vandam - Public Health Officer of World Health Organization
Paul Vincke - Managing Director of European Healthcare Fraud and Corruption Network
Cristiana Montani Natalucci - Italian Tribunal for Patients’ Rights, Italy

10:40 - 11:40 The good practices about transforming health care overcoming inefficiencies and waste (1st PART)

The power of Technology :

No Delays: transforming delivery of health services and reducing reliance on traditional clinical interactions”- Jamie Hogg - Clinical Lead for Modernisation, NHS Grampian, Scotland
“National Development of Electronic Cancer Referral System in the Republic of Ireland”-  Eileen Nolan Shortiss - National Cancer Control Programme, Ireland
“Use of a software to optimize the surgical process and to assure traceability of procedures in a high throughput orthopedic hospital” - Giuseppe Banfi - Scientific Director of IRCCS Galeazzi, Italy

Questions and answers

 The power of a better organizational management:

“How does lean work in emergency care?”- Pamela Mazzocato - Medical Management Centre “Karolinska Institutet”, Sweden
“NHS Future Focused Finance (FFF) programme” - Virginia Minogue - Research lead, FFF programme, England

Questions and answers

11:50 - 12:30 The good practices about transforming health care overcoming inefficiencies and waste (2nd PART)

 The power of Patient Engagement:

“PDTA: assistential and diagnostic-therapeutic paths “- Salvatore Leone - Amici Onlus, National Coalition of Associations for Patients suffering Chronic Diseases (CnAMC), Italy

The power of network:

“How can we use the “CHAIN” to increase value and reduce waste?” - David Evans - Contact, Help, Advice and Information Network (CHAIN), UK

Questions and answers

12:15 - 13:00 Round table:  

MEP Giovanni La Via - EPP (video message)

Bert Van Caelenberg - Vice President of Health First Europe

Douglas Gregory - Member of EFPIA Heath Systems Working Group

Maarten de Wit - European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR)

Antonio Longo - European Economic and Social Committee

13:00 - 13:15 Questions & Answers

13:15 - 13:30  Vytenis Andriukaitis - European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety

 13:30 Closing Remarks

Antonio Gaudioso - Secretary General of Cittadinanzattiva

For more information on the European conference and the Good Practices collection please write to Daniela Quaggia This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Take action!

Please give us your feedback on the conference by filling in this brief  on line questionnaire and tell us the topic you would you like to suggest for the next European Patients’ Rights Day! 

The conference is realized thanks to the support of:

ENS4Care: Evidence Based Guidelines for Nurses and Social Care Workers for the deployment of eHealth services

Project Description
In 2014/2015 Active Citizenship Network has been one of the partner of the ENS4Care project:

ENS4Care is a Thematic Network gathering together 24 partners from all over Europe. Its main objective is to share good nursing and social work practices in eHealth services and, through evaluation and consensus building, create a set of guidelines on healthy lifestyle and prevention, early intervention and clinical practice, integrated care, skills development for advanced roles and nurse ePrescribing.

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ENS4CarePartners

1. European Federation of Nurses Associations (EFN) – Belgium
The EFN was established in 1971. The EFN represents 34 National Nurses Associations and its work has an effect on the daily work of 6 million nurses throughout the European Union and Europe. The EFN is the independent voice of the nursing profession and its mission is to strengthen the status and practice of the profession of nursing for the benefit of the health of the citizens and the interests of nurses in the EU & Europe. The EFN is the project coordinator of the ENS4Care Thematic Network. It leads WP1 – Project Coordination and Management of the consortium.

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Collection of good practices & “EU Civic Prize on Chronic Pain”

Project Description

In 2015, Active Citizenship Network wants to start a research-project at the European level with the aim to give evidence on existing good practices in several European countries in terms of struggle against pain.

In particular, the research allows us to give continuity - expanding it with some specificity – to the investigation for good practices in the struggle against pain started by ACN in 2012.

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Patient Declaration on Medical Research, Innovation and theGlobal Search for Cures

Throughout the world, health outcomes have improved dramatically over the past decade. The key to this global health progress has been and continues to be the advance in science-based, medical innovation, including new procedures, diagnostics, health technologies and medicines.

While progress has been made, there is still an urgent need to accelerate the pace of drug discovery and research for tomorrow’s cures to address unmet health needs and to reduce the global and economic burden of illness and disease.

There is also much that must be done to strengthen health systems to ensure that these advancements reach the patients who need them. As Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) says, “Health systems are the foundation for better health. All the donated drugs in the world won’t do any good without an infrastructure for their delivery.”  

We, the undersigned, call on national governments around the world to support the global search for new treatments and cures through policies that support, incentivize and promote medical discovery and innovation.

AND

We call on governments around the world to commit to providing sustainable health care delivery, so that people who need treatment and medicines can get them, no matter what their financial standing. Governments should ensure patient and citizen involvement in health policy development and transparency in their decision-making processes.

THE COMMITMENT OF CITTADINANZATTIVA FOR MATERNITY AND NATALITY PROTECTION

Cittadinanzattiva has more than 30 year experience in the citizens’ rights protection in healthcare sector started with its Tribunal for patient’s  rights (Tribunale per i diritti del malato) in 1980 and strengthened  through the National Coordination of  the Association of patients affected by chronic diseases in 1996.
Some of the areas we decided to strengthen in the last years are pregnancy, maternity and fertility protection and defense, intervening particularly on this last topic in order to overcome prejudices and fears, explaining the opportunities given by the current regulatory framework to couples who want to have children but have difficulties in the conception.
The commitment of Cittadinanzattiva can be demonstrated with different kind of activities:

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The Commitment Of Cittadinanzattiva-Active Citizenship Network In The Prevention Of Cerebro And Cardiovascular Diseases

Cittadinanzattiva has more than 30 year experience in the protection of citizens' rights in the health sector, which initiated with its Tribunale per i diritti del malato ("Tribunal for Patients' Rights" or TDM) in 1980 and was later strengthened through the Coordinamento nazionale Associazioni Malati Cronici (National Coordination Centre of Chronic Patients' Associations) in 1996.
In spite of the fact that about 97% of health budgets are presently spent on treatment, whereas only 3% are invested in prevention (EU Commission 2013), we are convinced that prevention is imperative. CVDs are the number one cause of death globally: more people die annually from CVDs than from any other cause. The number of people who die from CVDs, mainly from heart disease and stroke, will increase to reach 23.3. million by 2030. CVDs are projected to remain the single leading cause of death. At a European level, the, the European Heart Network calculated that the cost for the treatment of cerebro and cardiovascular diseases is more than 196 billion euros each year.

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Chronic pain: making the invisible visible. European collection of good practices

EU conference
"Chronic pain: making the invisible visible. European collection of good practices"

October 2nd, 2014

Venue: European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) – Room TTRE 7701 - 7th floor,
Trèves Bulding, 74, rue de Trèves, 1040 Brussels

During the Italian EU Semester of Presidency (July-December 2014), the conference represents an important occasion due to the political framework: this year, for the first time at European level, the issue of chronic pain is being put on the agenda by the EU institutions, also thanks to the active work of a number of patient and civic associations all over Europe.

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EU civic research: collection of good practices on chronic pain

Foreword

On 11 January 2014, the Italian Council of Ministers adopted a document laying out the preliminary plans of the Italian Presidency of the Council of the European Union indicating pain therapy and palliative care as areas of focus during the Italian Presidency.

Cittadinanzattiva Onlus and its European branch Active Citizenship Network (ACN), being deeply involved in the European and national debate on patients' rights against unnecessary and useless pain, welcomes the Italian Presidency intention to tackle the issue of pain therapy and palliative care and would be delighted to contribute to the agenda and content setting with this regard.

Putting pain therapy and palliative care on its agenda will allow the Italian Presidency to position Italy as a pioneer in this field and share its own experience with other member states (especially with regard to the best practice law 38/2010 on palliative care and pain therapy). It will, above all, promote a greater awareness of the issue of chronic pain therapy among EU and national policy and decision-makers and over the longer term, reduce the negative impact of chronic pain on EU society. This would not only ensure a lasting legacy of the Italian Presidency but also pave the way to a better future for patients in Europe suffering from chronic pain. Based on an observation of activities undertaken by previous Presidencies in the area of health, the initiative outlined below (solely or combined with an integrated approach) could be considered by the Italian Presidency and stakeholder in order to promote the debate on palliative care and pain therapy during its term. 

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European Patients’ Rights Days, What has been done

I. Introduction:
In 2002, Active Citizenship Network (ACN) together with a group of European citizens organizations established a European Charter of Patients’ Rights, which includes the following 14 rights:the right to preventive measures; access care; information; consent; free choice; privacy and confidentiality; respect of patients’ time; observance of quality standards; safety; innovation; avoidance of unnecessary suffering and pain; personalized treatment; to complain; to receive compensation. All these rights, based on the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, are crucial in matter of European citizens and healthcare services. The majority of these rights are also embodied within the Council conclusions on Common values and  principles in EU Health Systems adopted in June 2006.

The reinforcement of these rights will become effective only with the cooperation and commitment of all healthcare stakeholders in every EU country. It is thus essential to increase awareness regarding the importance of patients’ rights and everyone’s responsibilities in guaranteeing their respect. We believe that celebrating a European Patients’ Rights Day every year in all the EU Member States would greatly contribute to this goal. It is a common occasion to inform, discuss and take commitments to improve patients’ rights in Europe and in each member state.

For this reason ACN, together with citizens’ and patients’ organizations throughout Europe, have taken the initiative to organize for the last six consecutive years the European Patients’ Rights Day.

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