EU activities on patient safety and quality of care

1
EU activities on patient safety and quality of
care

• Mrs Katja Neubauer
• Health and Consumers Directorate-General European
  Commission
• Kranska Gora, 5 June 2008

2
Overview

• Action at the EU level?
• Patient safety
• Quality of care
• Breast cancer screening
• Organs, blood and human tissues
• Long term care indicators
• Initiative on telemedicine and chronic disease
  management

3
Action at the EU level?

• A shared competence
• Member States have the primary responsibility in
  this area
• The role of the European Community is to provide
  support and assistance for their actions
• Article 152(2) (Public Health) of the Treaty on
  European Union

4
Patient Safety at the EU Level

• Patient safety working group (PSWG),
• Patient safety recommendation from the PSWG to
  the High Level Group on Health Services and
  Medical Care.
• EUNetPaS - recommended for Community funding.
• Patient safety confirmed as a high level
  Commission priority for 2008

5
The PSWG Recommendation (1/2)

• At the national level
• Support development of national policies and
  programmes
• Empower citizens and patients
• Develop positive patient safety cultures,
  leadership and clinical governance at the health
  care setting level
• Promote education and training of health
  professionals and all other staff
• Establish effective, blame-free, reporting and
  learning mechanisms
• Develop and enhance redress mechanisms for
  patients affected by adverse events.

6
The PSWG Recommendation (2/2)

• At the national and European level
• Develop the knowledge and evidence base for
  patient safety
• Use that knowledge and evidence to implement
  change for safer care
• Engage and involve stakeholders.

7
An EU Network for Patient Safety

• EUNetPaS
• Co-funded by the European Community.
• 30 month project, from 1 February 2008.
• Led by Haute Autorité de Santé, France.
• Many partners
• All 27 Member States involved
• A number of pan-European stakeholder groups.

8
EUNetPaS

• Four vertical work packages
• Reporting and Learning Systems
• Education and Training of Health Professionals
• Patient Safety Culture
• Pilot Testing of Medication Safety Interventions.
• Longer term sustainability?
• Additional political commitment required?

9
Stakeholder Engagement

• External stakeholders, including
• The Patient Safety Working Group
• Other patient safety experts and interested
  parties at the EU level
• A public consultation, closed on 23 May 2008.
• Other Commision Directorate-Generals

10
The Consultation Preliminary Results

• Participation
• Competent authorities
• at national level 9 Member States
• at regional level 8 regions, 2 regional
  associations
• NGOs
• Professional associations
• Industry representatives

11
The Consultation - Preliminary Results

• Respondents were asked about personal or family
  members firsthand experience of an adverse
  event in a healthcare setting in
• a) their home country

12
The Consultation - Preliminary Results

• b) in another EU Member State

13
The Consultation - Preliminary Results
14
The Consultation - Preliminary Results

• Respondents were asked to rank the most serious
  adverse events in terms of how they should be
  prioritised by those aiming to reduce harm to
  patients.

15
The Consultation - Preliminary Results

• Respondents overwhelmingly ranked as important or
  very important the need for (continued) action
  at the Member State (and EU) level on
• Budgetary commitment to patient safety
• Patient and public involvement
• Local healthcare management engagement
• Education and training of health professionals
• A common taxonomy and set of indicators
• Reporting and learning systems
• Standards and external assessment
• More Research
• More information on Redress for patients.

16
The Consultation - Preliminary Results
17
The European Commissions Patient Safety
Initiative in 2008

• A proposal, to cover
• general, systemic patient safety issues
• healthcare-associated infections
• Likely to include
• A Commission Communication
• A Council Recommendation.
• Commission adoption planned for the end of 2008.
• Council adoption to be sought in early 2009.

18
White paper

• Together for Health A Strategic Approach for
  the EU 2008-2013
• Among actions
•  Community framework for safe, high quality and
  efficient health services 

19
Breast cancer screening

• European guidelines for quality assurance in
  breast cancer screening and diagnosis
• (4th edition 2006)

20
Breast cancer screening

• Objectives
• improving the quality of breast screening
• reducing the differences among EU countries in
  the quality of care of breast disease
• Content guidelines for professional practice,
  for training and for data collection, guidance on
  breast screening communication

21
Human tissues and cells

• Directive 2004/23/EC of the European Parliament
  and of the Council setting high standards of
  quality and safety for the donation, procurement,
  testing, processing, preservation, storage and
  distribution of human tissues and cells (OJ L
  102, 7.4.2004, p. 48).

22
Organ donation

• Open consultation Policy options for organ
  donation and transplantation at EU level
  (December 2006)
• Communication from the EC to the EP and the
  Council (May 2007)

23
Organ donation

• Current challenges transplant risk, organ
  shortage, organ trafficking
• Main areas of actions improving quality and
  safety, increasing organ availability, making
  transplantation system more efficient and
  accessible, strengthening cooperation between
  Member States, legal instrument on quality and
  safety of organ donation and transplantation

24
Long-term care

• Communication of 20 April 2004 Modernising
  social protection for the development of
  high-quality, accessible and sustainable health
  care and long-term care support for the national
  strategies using the open method of coordination

25
Telemedicine and chronic diseases management

• EC initiative on telemedicine and innovative ICT
  tools for chronic disease management
• Communication of the EC in preparation,
  including, among the possible identified actions
   development of quality standards of
  telemedicine services 

26
Conclusions

• Patient safety confirmed as a high level
  Commission priority for 2008
• Current work on communication of the EC on
  patient safety and hospital infectious diseases
• Results of the public consultation supported the
  EC action
• Fragmented action on quality of care but an
  overall agenda needs to be developed