The 7th European Patients' Rights Day (EPRD), held in Brussels in May 2013, 16th, has been dedicated to the final principle of the European Charter of Patients' Rights, i.e. the "Right to participate in policy making in the area of health".
Active Citizenship Network (ACN) has decided to emphasize it in occasion of the 7th EPRD for two reasons:
- 2013 is the European Year of Citizens, which especially aims at raising citizens' awareness of their rights and at stimulating their active participation in the European policy-making;
- 25 October 2013 is the deadline for the national transposition of the directive 2011/24/EU on the application of patients' rights in cross-border healthcare, which officially recognizes most of the rights established in the European Charter and can therefore not be successfully implemented without the involvement of patients' organisations.
The structure of the conference reflected these two rationales:
- The Directive on Patients' Rights in Cross Border Care
The Directive on Patients' Rights in Cross Border Care creates a clarified legal framework for patients' entitlement to seek healthcare in another Member State and to get reimbursed. But first and foremost, it is an innovative text which formally states for the first time the existence of EU patients' rights such as free choice, right to information, to quality of care, etc.
The conference is part of a process aimed at supporting the involvement of civic organisations in the transposition of the Directive in every Member State, for a citizen-centered and successful implementation. This strategy, which has been officially launched by ACN in occasion of the conference, will bring to the celebration of the 25 October all over the EU. It will be an occasion for all patient and civic organisations to inform European citizens on what has been done and on what still has to be done to make the rights sanctioned in the Directive come true. Read the conference conclusions.
- Patients' involvement
Patients' involvement and citizen participation should become a core strategy of European Health systems. However, despite the large agreement about the necessity to engage citizens, there is no systematic commitment on this issue, neither at EU nor at national levels.
During the conference has been presented an overview of the situation in Europe (laws, experiences, obstacles, good practices) regarding the main fields of patients' participation (agenda setting, decision making, implementation, assessment, etc.), with a focus on participative policies in cancer care, an area in which the access to innovation and personalized treatments is especially crucial.
Click here to download the full Report.
Click here to download the programme
Click here to download the materials
For further information please write to
With the support of:
European Economic and Social Committee
and
Abbvie
Bayer
Celgene
Hoffmann-La Roche
Lilly
Pfizer
Sanofi