This year, I had the chance to return for the second time as Young Gasteiner to the 18^th European Health Forum Gastein. This years’ programme was highly linked to key themes within the EPF work programme and on issues that are important to us as a patient organisation, like inclusiveness, universal access to healthcare and patient empowerment.

What did we discuss?

Access to innovative treatment, patient empowerment, equity and solidarity as well as value of innovation were high on the Gastein agenda. Multimorbidity (the occurrence of two or more chronic conditions in one person) was also the focus of one of the sessions and I was particularly pleased to see that patients with several chronic conditions were invited to share their expertise. I wrote a blog on this session which I invite you to read here.

The refugees’ crisis was also highlighted in one of the session as refugees often arrive sick from their harsh journey, however, they receive scarce support by healthcare services.  I was happy to see many NGOs stepping up to this issue, committing to treating this as a health crisis and calling on decision makers in health to play a more prominent role in this issue.

Sharing EPF work with other Gasteiners

My colleague Camille, was also present for the first time at this event. “The Young Gasteiners’ programme brings together two communities who work intensively on changing healthcare policies, but from different perspectives: young researchers and innovators and young policy influencers. I’m glad to say that after a few days spent together, we spoke the same language.”  Camille said.

Camille also had the opportunity to present her winning poster on patients’ rights in cross border healthcare and EPF’s work on that topic over the last few years. She explained that “when the Directive on cross-border healthcare came into force in 2013, there were fears that the Directive would lead to a flow of patients traveling across Europe to benefit from healthcare. The objective of my poster was to show there is no such flow of patients so far, and generally, the ones traveling do it because treatment is not available in their home country!”

More information on the outcomes of European Health Policy Forum Gastein here.

Pictures: Laurène Souchet (top), Camille Bullot, presenting her poster (bottom)

Just coming back from the European Health Forum Gastein 2014, I would like to share my experience as a Young Gasteiner. The programme was a great opportunity to come in contact with many young people who are active in public health all over Europe (healthcare professionals, researchers, representatives from NGOs). I learnt a lot from our discussions and I’m happy to be part of this vibrant network, overall as it is the first time that patients’ representatives are involved.

While the whole conference was interesting, what I found the most enlightening is the Cross-Border Healthcare workshop which was held with young gasteiners. We reflected together on many solutions to key issues in the implementation of the directive. My group focused on continuity of care between the home healthcare professional and the doctor visited abroad. We recommended electronic health records with some degree of harmonisation would be a key tool for exchange of information. And empowering patients is also key to ensure the information flows.

Another session that I particularly liked was on Health System Performance, because it is such a prominent topic, and I now grasp the concept and its potential, which will be very helpful for my work. I think this is a key area where patients need to be engaged because the questions of access, patient centred healthcare, and quality of care are at stake.

I heard other interesting ideas at Gastein. Former MEP John Bowis in particular proposed to focus our efforts on the health literacy of decision-makers. And Ilona Kickbush presented the idea of health citizenship which means in a nutshell that citizens have rights in the context of healthcare, and should also have opportunity to take responsibilities.

A part that resonated strongly with me is the speech of Dr Agis Tsouros from the Word Health Organisation who explained that “health is a political choice”. He argued that if we have health inequalities in our society, this comes from decisions made by politicians who can chose to ignore a problem. Working on the question of access within EPF, I know that we will do our best to ensure that decision-makers work towards the right solutions.

I was glad to recognise some fellow patients’ representatives within the ranks of the Young Gasteiners, namely from our membership, Roberta Savli from of the European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients’ Associations (EFA), Elisabeth Kasilingam of the European Multiple Sclerosis Platform and Anne-Marie Borg from Malta Health Network . I believe the next step will be to involve young patients with chronic disease themselves, for instance from EPF Youth Group. Patients are experts too, as was acknowledged several times during the conference.