Let’s Campaign for Patient Empowerment!
On 20-21 May EPF will launch our one-year campaign dedicated to Patient Empowerment with a major conference in Brussels, Belgium. With this campaign, we want to take the European discussions a crucial next step forward towards concrete actions.
“We want to be full partners in the management of our conditions according to our individual capacities and situation. We need to be empowered to do so. Empowerment starts with tailored high-quality information and health literacy, to enable us to make informed choices about our treatment and care.”
“Empowered patients are good for health systems. We take responsibility for our care in equal partnership with health professionals. We also take preventive measures, seek earlier diagnosis and adhere to treatment, which can reduce healthcare costs in the long run.”
These were last year’s messages that helped to define our campaign for the 2014 EU Elections. Patient empowerment is at the root of EPF’s vision and mission and we want to advance this agenda by fostering positive attitudes and the development of support policies and programmes that enable patients to make informed choices and have their place in society as equal citizens.
During the last year EPF contributed to the study ‘Empowering patients in the management of chronic diseases’ or EMPATHiE which analysed patient empowerment (PE) for patients with chronic diseases across the EU. A clear recommendation emerging from this work is the need for a European strategy and action plan on patient empowerment.
As DG Santé has not yet have adopted a specific strategy on patient empowerment, we will encourage decision-makers to work towards this goal. The launch conference will explore this in collaboration with the Commission and health stakeholders.
The campaign will close in June 2016 with an exhibition at the European Parliament. This will provide an unprecedented opportunity to advance patient empowerment in a systematic way, and create the environment to contribute towards genuine sustainability of health systems and societal ‘growth’.
Link to register to the event: here.
Contact: Cynthia Bonsignore, EPF Communication Officer, cynthia.bonsignore@eu-patient.eu.