European Patients Forum, logo.

How to engage in the campaign

We kept our campaign for the 2014 EU Elections deliberately very general to ensure patient groups can adapt it to their unique needs to make the most of the 2014 EU Elections. To make this campaign a success, we need engagement from our members and from the entire patient community to cascade our messages.

This EPF campaign guide aims to offer a framework with advice and core material to our members and patients’ organisations to prepare the period ahead of the elections. We appreciate that you all have different needs and priorities and encourage you to consider incorporating our campaign into your existing outreach campaign, with the theme “Patients + Participation = Our Vote for a Healthier Europe”.

The guide provides different levels of engagement which you can consider to tailor your campaign to different audiences. We provide an overview here of suggested platforms and messaging that you could use to engage your own members.

How to show your commitment?


Online Form

  • Sign the online form to formally support our campaign (the form takes a few seconds to appear):
    www.eu-patient.eu/whatwedo/EPFCampaign2014Elections/I-support-EPF-Campaign/
  • Ask everyone you know to sign the online form: ask 10 of your friends, family and colleagues to sign the petition
  • Ask your national decision-makers to sign the online form and therefore commit to a patients’ perspective in their work by signing this online form
  • Email everyone you know with a link to the online form and put it on your website, on your blog, on your Facebook page and Tweet about it

Manifesto and other tools

  • Print the Manifesto in your own language for your events http://www.eu-patient.eu/library/Manifesto-all-languages/
  • Ask EPF to send to you some copies of the Manifesto (English version) and the badge
  • Use the campaign materials –images, Facebook cover, etc. - available for download here to illustrate your own articles, posts, etc.

Twitter

  • Use the hashtags #patientsvote #epf2014 to tag your messages about the EPF campaign
  • Use @eupatientsforum to address us directly
  • Take a picture of you with the EPF Manifesto and share it

Example of tweets with 140 characters:

[Your organisation] supports the #epf2014 #patientsvote campaign of @eupatientsforum. Sign the manifesto here:http://goo.gl/9EXm3H

Patients + Participation = [Your organisation] will vote for a Healthier Europe on 22-25 May 2014. And you? #patientsvote Link: http://goo.gl/9EXm3H

We call on decision-makers to engage #patientorganisations in decision-making to ensure ALL policies reflect our needs #patientsvote

We call on decision-makers to adopt an EU strategy on patient empowerment #healthliteracy for patients #patientsvote

We call on decision-makers to develop a clear framework for patient involvement in health research #epf2014 #patientsvote

We call on decision-makers to ensure that #patientsrights is part of the next health Commissioner’s portfolio #epf2014 #patientsvote

Blog

  • Read and comment existing articles on EPF Blog: http://www.eu-patient.org/blog/
  • Share your personal testimonial about how greater empowerment and involvement have contributed to make healthcare more cost-effective and of high-quality with cynthia.bonsignore@eu-patient.eu so that we can post it on EPF blog
  • Share your opinion about a specific area of the campaign with cynthia.bonsignore@eu-patient.eu so that we can post it on EPF blog
  • Share our blog articles on your website, in your newsletter and on your social media platforms

Facebook

  • Like our page www.facebook.com/EuropeanPatientsForum
  • Like/Share/Comment our posts about the campaign
  • Take a picture of you saying “I support the EPF Manifesto” and share it on EPF Facebook Page

Example of posts on Facebook:
We call on decision-makers to support an EU initiative on equitable access to healthcare for all European citizens #epf2014 #patientsvote
Link: http://goo.gl/9EXm3H

[Your organisation] supports the EPF campaign for the 2014 EU Elections. Do you support a healthier Europe for patients too? 
Link: http://goo.gl/9EXm3H

Patients + Participation = [Your organisation] will vote for a Healthier Europe on 22-25 May 2014. And you?
Link: http://goo.gl/9EXm3H

2014 EU Elections: we call on decision-makers to engage patients collectively and proactively through patient organisations in decision-making to ensure all policies reflect our needs
Link: http://www.eu-patient.eu/whatwedo/EPFCampaign2014Elections/

2014 EU Elections: we call on decision-makers to adopt an EU strategy on patient empowerment including an action plan on health literacy and high-quality information for patients on all aspects of healthcare
Link: http://www.eu-patient.eu/whatwedo/EPFCampaign2014Elections/

2014 EU Elections: we call on decision-makers to support an EU initiative on equitable access to healthcare for all European citizens through a multi-stakeholder platform
Link: http://www.eu-patient.eu/whatwedo/EPFCampaign2014Elections/

2014 EU Elections: we call on decision-makers to develop a clear framework for patient involvement in health research, through the entire cycle of the innovation chain
Link: http://www.eu-patient.eu/whatwedo/EPFCampaign2014Elections/

2014 EU Elections: we call on decision-makers to ensure that patients’ rights is part of
the next health Commissioner’s portfolio
Link: http://www.eu-patient.eu/whatwedo/EPFCampaign2014Elections/

YouTube

  • Watch our campaign video (soon available) at www.youtube.com/eupatient
  • Share our video on your website, in your newsletter and on your social media platforms
  • Share your testimonial about how greater empowerment and involvement have contributed to make healthcare more cost-effective and of high-quality or about a specific area of the campaign with cynthia.bonsignore@eu-patient.eu

Letters to call for engagement


Write a letter to call on your government and national health minister to support this campaign and commit to a patients’ perspective in their work. (See documents annexes for a sample letter).

Write a media release to encourage media to make this campaign visible and create awareness about including a patients’ perspective to make healthcare more cost-effective and of high-quality. (See document annexes for a sample press release)

Write a news article on your website/blog to raise awareness about the EPF campaign within your patient community.

At your events, invite an EPF speaker to introduce the EPF campaign.

At a conference, add a few PowerPoint slides about the EPF campaign to your talk. These slides are available  here and contain basic information so feel free to edit them for your own needs and do give us a feedback about what response you got (cynthia.bonsignore@eu-patient.eu).

Quotable quotes


Anders Olauson, EPF President:

“These elections are a big milestone for patients in Europe. We know from our members throughout Europe that the challenges patients constituencies are facing are enormous. Fundamental inequalities and lack of access prevail, even more as our population ages. We need to ask ourselves what kind of society do we want, for us, and for the future -and health is absolutely central to this. This is what we fight for in our Campaign and Manifesto.”

"With our campaign, we want to create a sense of urgency and real imperative to address the roadblocks to patients’ access to proper healthcare. Access to healthcare is a basic EU citizens‘ right - yet it is still not a reality for many of us, a situation made worst by the economic crisis.“

 “The patients’ role in healthcare must be transformed from being passive recipients to active and engaged actors of our own health management.“
"If you look at the benefits of patient empowerment and involvement for healthcare systems, they are numerous: avoidable hospitalisations, more effectively allocated healthcare resources, better quality care throughout the “patient journey”, more adherence to treatment and better informed and motivated patients.“

Tonio Borg, Commissionner for Health at DG SANCO:

"I congratulate you and welcome your initiative. I fully agree with you, that patients' views matter; and that empowered patients are an asset for the economy. Indeed patient empowerment contributes to the success of a healthcare system: by putting patients in the driving seat we enable them to participate in improving their own health."

You can find more information in the guidance document in the right-hand column.