Taking into account that the European Union is having as its rotating presidencies two of the smallest member states of the EU: Latvia and Luxembourg, EAPM event focussed on the fact that health policies need to recognise and tackle the inherent health system vulnerabilities faced, specifically, by smaller countries and in the regions of the larger ones.
Invited as keynote speaker, the EFN General Secretary, Paul De Raeve, expressed that “ensuring better treatments for Patients and making personalised care a reality for all EU citizens requires different actions: resources, high quality workforce, innovation, appropriate reforms, reorganisations of healthcare, priorities towards prevention, health promotion and care in the communities, and political will! There is a need for a shift in the focus in medicine, in medical models and how personalised medicine can become personalised treatments and care for individuals. Furthermore, if we are to focus on local needs, moving care to the community fosters the added value of health as a driver of well-being, productivity and growth, particularly relevant in the political context of boosting the social economy. And in all this process the nurses have a key and pivotal role to play. It is important not to forget that nurses are key when it comes to personalised care.”
He added that “Different initiatives and EU projects are bringing together resources and people to identify good practices, analyse the processes and bring in lessons to transfer innovative actions to other regions and countries. As an example, ENS4Care, a collection of over 120 good practices in eHealth services provided by nurses and social workers that has developed evidenced based guidelines in the areas of prevention, COPD, advanced roles, continuity of care, and nurse ePrescribing. These guidelines lead nurses and social workers to make appropriate decisions and guide them to encourage patients on the use of mHealth technologies. Therefore, it is crucial to engage clinical professions in the political debate at national and EU levels to make sure that the politicians choose the right priorities and support patients, citizens, professionals and industry in working together to realise personalised healthcare”.
Present at the event, the Luxembourg Health Minister highlighted that “Personalised medicine has enormous potential for improving the health of patients and ensuring better outcomes. But its integration into clinical practice and daily care is being difficult due to the many barriers and challenges to timely access to targeted healthcare that still exist”, while the former European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, David Byrne, referred to “the emergence of Big Data, the restructuring of clinical trial models, and a new willingness for all stakeholders to leave their professional silos and collaborate as never before!”
Organised by the European Alliance for Personalised Medicine (EAPM), in Brussels, on 2 June 2015, the meeting brought together researchers, patients, nurses, physicians, regulators and politicians, to explore the current barriers and how they can be dismantled. Expert panels examined potential ways for larger collaboration and, in the smaller states, the pooling of resources, which will certainly need to occur more often.