Three years on and Covid-19 still exists on a global scale, deadly, and with new variants mutating. Here is what member states can do to prevent another outbreak and ensure #CareForAll.

COVID-19 not only brought catastrophic numbers of cases and deaths across the globe; it also shone a spotlight on the weaknesses of our healthcare systems, surfacing the lack of investment in public health and pandemic preparedness overall. To support European member states in their defence against COVID-19, policymakers put measures in place tackling the then-unknown pandemic.

Three years on, the pandemic still exists, and remains deadly, especially for patients who are within at a higher-risk groups. Yet, European member states are deprioritising COVID-19 care, with the recommended actions to fight the pandemic seen to have been put aside.

Member states should continue prioritising COVID-19, learn from their previous mistakes, and invest in health services pandemic preparedness.

Through our #CareForAll campaign, we have listed recommendations for members states to improve their COVID-19 patient care pathways. Members states should:

• Collaborate with civic and patient organisations to raise public awareness about COVID-19-related risks through tailored communication campaigns.
• Earmark resources to support healthcare professionals’ knowledge acquisition of existing COVID-19 treatments.
• Provide support to improve communication skills of healthcare professionals.
• Prioritise investment in eHealth infrastructure, including telemedicine, digital health records and health information exchange systems.
• Strengthen the role and involvement of pharmacists in COVID-19 care.
• Upgrade patient and medical pathways to improve functionality and adoption of healthcare innovation.
• Ensure that high-risk groups have access to free COVID-19 testing kits.
• Ensure Covid-19 is kept at the forefront of national healthcare policies.

The full list of recommendations can be found within the Recommendations Covid-19 Patient Pathways report.

Members states must improve their effort to protect the high risk and prevent another COVID-19 Outbreak.

Let’s drive #CareForAll in 2023.

This campaign is part of the “Protecting the value of access to care during - and after - the COVID-19 pandemic across Europe: focus on antivirals”

It has been launched during the “Prioritizing care for high-risk COVID-19 patients in the EU: policy recommendations” event, realized on the 14 November 2023 with the support of the MEPs Interest Group "European Patients' Rights & Cross-Border Healthcare", at the European Parliament in Brussels.