MEPs Interest Group "European Patients' Rights & Cross-Border Healthcare" - II° term (2019-2024)

Civic societies & patient organizations join again with new MEPs to strengthen the protection of patients’ rights in the European framework

It is a source of pride to announce the second term (2019-2024) of the MEPs Interest Group on Patients’ Right and Cross-Border Healthcare. Promoted by Active Citizenship Network and endorsed by almost 100 associations across Europe, the Interest Group renews its commitment to be a place of dialogue for the development of the policy making process at the EU level. The launch event is planned next 28^th January 2020 at the EU Parliament, to register click here.

In line with the commitments taken during the first mandate, the objective is to increase - in a multi-stakeholder perspective – the cooperation among EU Institutions, citizens & patients' organizations. It will be focused on the one hand, on patients’ right for the reduction of health inequalities, and on the other hand, on the priorities underlined by the new EU Health Commissioner. These priorities, among others, include:

• A strong attention to prevention and specifically on vaccination policies. The MEPs Interest Group highlights the commitment on this topic, focusing its first meeting on addressing vaccine hesitancy and increasing uptake in EU.
• Digital technologies and artificial intelligence can bring concrete benefits for patients and can help healthcare professional in several ways, including the collection of data.
• Providing the European institutions with a forum to discuss the global issue of Anti-Microbial Resistance and addressing how Europe should coordinate its efforts, while at the same time advocating for international agreements.
• Furthermore, the Interest group will address other topics such as prevention and innovation, the role of the civic participation for a new healthcare governance, the burden across the EU society of the chronic pain, of the CVDs, and others.

As is well known, the idea to encourage a MEPs Interest Group focused on patients’ rights follows the widespread request of more than 80 civic and patient organizations sent in 2014 to the EU Parliament to recognize officially the value of citizens’ initiatives, such as the European Charter of Patients’ Rights, based on the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and the European Patients’ Rights Day, which has been organized every year on April 18th since 2007 at local, national and EU level.

Year after year, together we have contributed to increase the commitment of the European institutions on healthcare: the high attention provided by the last European Council, Parliament and Commission represents an important heritage for the new European Institutions that are called to give continuity and, hopefully, to improve on what their predecessors have done.

Since the beginning, the MEPs Interest Group on Patients’ Right and Cross-Border Healthcare provided a civic perspective for putting the citizens at the centre of health policies, not only as “users or consumers” of health services or “patients” with a specific disease, but rather as active citizens participating in healthcare policymaking and essential stakeholders concerned with the sustainability, safety and quality of healthcare.

For this reason, we sincerely thank the founders of this Interest Group and all the MEPs that in its first term have actively supported this initiative. At the same time, and for the same reason, we would like to thank MEPs Brando Benifei and Tomislav Sokol for accepting to co-chair this initiative as well all the MEPs that have just joined the Interest Group and those that have renewed their participation.

Mariano Votta