European Union

All information is gathered on the page “EU solidarity with Ukraine“.

The European Commission created an information page for people fleeing the war in Ukraine with information on rights, travel options, national authorities to contact for temporary protection and which organisations are active in helping those fleeing Ukraine, as well as how to contact them.

Another page includes a section “How you can help” with a repertoire of the numerous organisations that have mobilised in the EU Member States to support people from Ukraine seeking protection in the EU. These include the national branches of international agencies, umbrella organisations and a range of other charitable and humanitarian bodies. It also lists the major relief organisations active on the ground that are coordinating assistance to Ukraine.

The page “EU Assistance to Ukraine” explains what the EU is doing at different level (humanitarian help, civil protection mechanism, emergency logistical hubs, temporary protection mechanism etc.)

WHO/Europe

In March 2022, WHO/Europe released information on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Humanitarian response in Ukraine and neighboring countries.

On 2 March, WHO/Europe also published the WHO Emergency appeal for Ukraine and neighbouring countries, an appeal detailing its resource needs for Ukraine and its surrounding countries for the next three months. With the funds sought, WHO aims to reach, in the next three months, 6 million people with essential health services including trauma care.

Furthermore part of the health response to the Ukraine’s emergency, the WHO Regional Office for Europe is publishing related content on its website WHO/Europe | Ukraine emergency with updates including weekly Situation Reports at Situation reports.

WHO/Europe is also producing Risk Communication and Community Engagement products based on social listening insights to provide public health advice to affected populations in and outside Ukraine. The products will be released on a weekly basis in different formats including social medial tiles, leaflets, posters and video clips. The target audiences vary from affected people and internally displaced persons (IDPs), refugees, communities in refugee-receiving countries, health workers, aid organisations and volunteers. Weekly topics are identified according to listening insights and needs on the ground.  

Please find below the Risk Communication and Community Engagement products published recently.

Links to social media tiles published on WHO channels:   

– Reporting misconduct: FB: English – Ukrainian Twitter: Ukrainian   

– Severe stress management: FB: English 1 – English 2 – Ukrainian 1 –  Ukrainian 2  Twitter:  Ukrainian   

– Breastfeeding: FB: Ukrainian 1– Ukrainian 2 Twitter: English – Ukrainian  

– Attacks on health: Twitter: English – Ukrainian

– Reporting misconduct: Facebook English – Ukrainian

The post Ukraine – useful resources appeared first on Hope.

Collaboration, knowledge sharing and networking were high on the agenda on the recent HOPE Study Tour: Finland, which took place in Helsinki on 24-25 September 2019, and focused on the latest developments in digital healthcare. The visit was organised by the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities which represents the interests of all 311 Finnish municipalities responsible for health and social care in municipalities and hospital districts across the country. The practical organisation of the tour was led by the HOPE National Co-ordinator, Ms Hannele Häkkinen, and as our guide she was efficient and welcoming from start to finish. The 19 participants were accommodated in the Hotel Katajanokka, an atmospheric, multi-award-winning boutique hotel in the centre of the city which, until 2002, was still a local prison. All transport to and from the various venues for the study tour were organised in advance, and the group was also treated to a superb networking dinner at Ravintola Kuu on the first night, featuring local Finnish cuisine and enjoyed immensely by all who attended.

The study tour participants came from a range of European countries including Cyprus, Latvia, Denmark, France, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Serbia, Germany, Luxembourg and Finland. The programme started with an overview of the structure and organisation of the Finnish health and social care system. It was noted that the Finnish Government is currently considering some major social and healthcare reorganisation for the future. The proposal is to reduce from 311 municipalities, to 18 self-governing regions (“counties”) which are larger than the municipalities, and which will take on the responsibility for organising social and healthcare services, and emergency and rescue services. In addition, 5 collaborative health areas will be created for specialised care. These areas will be centred on the current catchment areas of the 5 major university teaching hospitals in Helsinki, Tampere, Oulu, Turku and Kuopio. The Study Tour focused on Helsinki as the largest region within Finland, with 23 hospitals, almost a third of the population and still growing.

As Finland is currently holding the 6-month Presidency of the European Council the participants heard a very interesting presentation on the economics of wellbeing in the organisation of services. Finland’s objective during their Presidency of the EU Council is to stimulate an open European debate on the economics of wellbeing, and to improve policy-level understanding of the fact that universal wellbeing is a prerequisite for economic growth and for social and economic stability.

The participants also experienced site visits to Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) to learn about “Health Village” – a unique digital service platform and eHealth development programme – and the new Helsinki Children’s Hospital, which took 6 years to plan and opened 12 months ago showcasing various digital developments to support a world-class experience for young patients and their families.

So why choose Finland to visit to learn about digital health? The study tour group soon discovered that Finland is at the forefront of digital healthcare development within Europe; offering universal high-quality health services for a relatively small but demanding population, with some specialist needs in respect of certain genetic illnesses. The Finnish health and social care system is accessed in a number of ways – the public health services provided by the municipalities; occupational health schemes which cover most of the working population (87%), private health services, and a range of NGOs which complement the more formal system.

Finland has been working on developing its national health database since the 1980s, and every patient has an electronic patient record. With a relatively small and isolated population Finland is ideally placed to trial new developments in data analytics, and is investing 4% of its GDP in digital development. In addition, the country aims to be at the forefront of understanding genetic illnesses, and is on the way to ensuring 10% of the population are genotyped. The Finns are highly motivated to engage with digital solutions and “Health Village”, which started to take shape in 2014, is a national virtual hospital project with interfaces for the public, patients and health professionals.

The “Health Village” project is a national project but is based in Helsinki at HUS (Helsinki University Hospital) which is the second largest employer in Finland with almost 25,000 staff.  The national healthcare database provides a huge “data lake” which feeds the various developments offered by the eHealth development programme. The system is accessible to all Finns, regardless of their place of residence or income, and is a practical tool to guide them in both everyday life and self-care, and also when they are in contact with professional health services. The digital platform is supported by almost 2000 healthcare professionals who lead the development of disease pathway management; evidence-based cost control; patient and health professional education and predictive medicine.

Every patient has a “My Path” customer account, and he or she is enabled to navigate their own way through the system. There are at present 32 disease-based information hubs, which have been designed by health professionals, and more are being added all the time. The emphasis for the patient facing part of the platform is on non-technical language with advice for patients on how to present to health services to get the best results for their symptoms. Patients can access the information anonymously without being tracked, and each pathway is a medical device (CE marked and designed by clinicians). The experience so far is that contacts to health professionals have reduced as patients have much more information about their own personal condition.  Where medical or nursing advice is shared with the patient, this advice is recorded on the patient’s individual electronic patient record.

What was most impressive was the way the digital platform allowed for the development of predictive medicine; both in terms of the way diseases will develop for individuals, and in terms of the individual’s likelihood to engage with the treatment plan. The system highlights those patients who will need extra professional health to stay on track. Health Village therefore complements traditional treatment pathways by supporting operational change tailored to the individual rather than just digitalising old services.

There is much the Study Tour participants can learn from the way Health Village has been developed. The core principles involve the continual engagement of patients and the public; the development of clinical content by clinicians; the scalability of services (once designed) to increase patient education and self-care and reduce face to face clinical contacts; and the use of highly developed data analytics to learn from the experience of the whole national database to focus interventions on the needs of the individual. The opportunities for medical education and research are enormous, and at present the HUS Informatics teams are working on how to automatically integrate patient contacts with the system into the individual electronic patient record to provide comprehensive data on every individual patient.

The security for this national service is via strong ID (similar to the systems used by the banking sector) and at all times the citizen can choose how much of their individual data from the national data lake is shared and with whom. It seems that the biggest challenge will be keeping the medical pathways up to date and there is already a maintenance schedule for the pathways – the same as for medical devices. HUS is currently looking for international partners to globalise the ideas developed within Health Village; their vision is for an international data platform to inform the future of medicine.

The visit to the New Children`s Hospital in Helsinki was much anticipated by the Study Tour participants as a number of countries are planning new Paediatric or Women & Children’s hospitals in the next 5 years. The Helsinki Children’s Hospital opened in September 2018 and is the leading provider of specialised health care for paediatric patients in Finland. Funded by both donations and taxes, the New Children’s Hospital was awarded the Finlandia Prize for Architecture in 2018 for its state-of-the-art technology blended with the human touch. The Hospital has 140 beds and employs 800 nurses, 300 medical doctors and 200 other specialist staff members.

On arrival in the main entrance, with its impressive interactive digital fish tank, it is plain to see that the experience of children and their families has been integral to the design and development of New Children`s Hospital. Family advisory councils shared their views on digital services, artwork and the facilities in patient rooms, and on the intensive care unit. An adolescent panel also gave their opinion on the development of the services to be provided, and the delivery of treatments and examinations.  The use of the most modern digital technology was evident throughout the hospital to improve the patient experience, and to put children and adolescents at ease when receiving services.

On arrival children are asked to check into a kiosk to record their attendance and to track their location within the hospital. The child is asked to choose from one of over 200 avatars, and this is then personalised to their care record for that visit to allow them to be identified and called for in public areas without any breach of patient confidentiality; all whilst maintaining a fun talking point for the child with their carers and health professionals.

The healing power of art and play has a significant role in recovery, and the hospital has special permission from the family of the late Tove Jansson to use the illustrations and quotes from the Moomin stories on every one of the 8 levels. The interactive digital marine aquarium in the main atrium allows children to write messages on a piece of paper and post them in a box. The messages can then be scanned in and will appear on the sides of the fish swimming in the tank, much to the delight of the child.

Digital solutions are now integral to modern medical care and the hospital works closely with Health Village to allow Artificial intelligence (AI) to speed up the prediction and treatment of serious infections in preterm babies in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Physically disabled patients in need of demanding surgery can be examined in the gait analysis laboratory, and the information gathered leads to improved outcomes. New methods for examining a patient’s movements are currently being developed so that analysis can be carried out at home; and Video-EEG is used in variety of ways when planning surgery for epilepsy. New methods of cellular therapy enhance the treatment of malignant diseases, and improve the prognoses of patients, and all this work is supported by the impressive big scale data analysis possible from the national database.

The HOPE Study Tour in Helsinki was excellent value for money. A huge amount of information on relevant developments in modern healthcare was shared within a very short space of time, and there was ample opportunity to meet and network with health management peers across Europe. The Finns should be proud of the advances they have made already in digital healthcare, and applauded for their willingness to share their knowledge with colleagues in others countries.

This newsletter article was written as a collaborative piece by Roberta Fuller & Debra Shields from the Royal Cornwall Hospital in the UK, and Doris Voit from the German Hospital Federation. 

Contact: Ms Hannele Häkkinen, Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, hannele.hakkinen@aflra.fi

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This may be the most important statement from the HOPE Study Tour that Danish Regions organized in spring 2018. The participants heard of working methods and projects that help define and address the challenges at hand, and discussions on this took place in an open forum meant to advance the exchange of best practices, ideas and challenges, which is the heart of the HOPE Study Tours.

But back to the first statement: “What outcome do we want?” Not just in Denmark, but all over Europe. A patient centered health care system, but also an affordable health care system, a dedicated and highly qualified staff, short waiting lists, high quality, specialized services, personalized medicine, etc.? Is all of it possible or how do we rank which is the most important, and what effect does it have on how we ought to work? The Study Tour gave an insight into how the Danish health care sector works with a lot of issues.

What has Denmark done to address the quality challenge?

In 2016 a new national Quality programme was established, with the aim to build a nationwide improvement work on the results and experience of the patients. The programme abolished accreditation at hospitals, as we had come as far as we could with that instrument, it has fewer process and registration demands, and more systematic improvement work, where management and staff can follow, analyze and act based on key numbers.

8 national goals agreed by the national, regional and local political level were introduced. These goals are the cornerstone of the national quality programme. A range of indicators are meant to make the goals concrete. It is up to each level to make sure that the exact challenges they are facing are addressed to reach the goals. Learning and quality teams established with both regional and local participants are meant to follow the developments and to follow up on the results. So far it seems like the new approach to quality has given new life and enthusiasm to an area, that was regarded by many health professionals as bureaucratic and not always clinically worthwhile.

The five Danish regions are generally on a good path. The last 10-15 years have been a remarkable improvement of the quality in the Danish healthcare system, with lower mortality rates, significantly decreased waiting times and the first of a range of new hospitals have already been built. Through Population health management, Value based health care, Big data, Personalised medicine and a political obligation to not only deliver health care services, but provide Health for all (Health for all), it is the aim, that we can keep improving.

But despite improvements Denmark is facing the same challenges as the rest of Europe when it comes to chronic illnesses, comorbidity, demography etc. which puts a tremendous pressure on the health services, whether it is regional or local. And that’s why the participants were introduced to both the areas where progress are made and to those where it is still early to say if we have found the right track to solve the challenges we are facing: Can value based health care help steering hospitals budgets, how much time does it take to train the staff to work based on this, is the effort worthwhile, will it last, how about the quality in general practice and the crucial cooperation between sectors, will we be able to use the technical solutions at hand, can we change the culture of how we work, are regular controls really necessary, based on evidence or could the doctors time be used better? etc. So far it is not possible to come with bullet proof solutions to all the challenges health care is facing all over Europe. The talks must continue as to how each health care system can use the means at hand as they see fit, and that fits their version of health care.

A large group of 37 people from 11 countries participated in the Study Tour. A tight programme took the participants through a brief introduction to the general health care system in Denmark of free and equal access, to mega trends and visions in health care and gave an insight into the work with quality in health care from both the national, regional and local angle, as Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen (Rigshospitalet) and the Local Government Denmark (Local Government Denmark) were visited. Even the dinner was with a point, as Meyers House of Food (Meyers)  gave an insight into how they work with quality from farm to table.

Summary of the event in German by Dr. Doris Voit, MBA

The post The Danish Way in Quality and Health Care – For senior healthcare professionals, managers and policy makers 10 – 11 April 2018, Copenhagen (Denmark) appeared first on Hope.

PAQS ASBL is a newly created organization bringing together most healthcare stakeholders in Brussels and Wallonia with the objective of improving quality and safety in healthcare. PAQS ASBL organized a HOPE Study Tour on Quality and Safety on 4 and 5 May 2017 in Brussels.

During these two days, participants got to know how things are currently organized in Belgium, which policies have been implemented for which results, and how future policies may look like. Participants were expected to briefly present Quality and Safety policies existing in their countries and to exchange opinions and ideas on how things are evolving throughout Europe.

Programme

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Created by Toyota in the 1970s, Lean Management is a method of organizing work that intends to improve production with fewer resources. To this end, Lean Management relies on the active participation of all stakeholders to optimize the overall performance of organizations and reduce waste.

While many French companies have already adopted lean management, what about the first experiments conducted in the French public hospitals?

This HOPE study tour was an opportunity for European professionals to discover a successful experience of Lean development in public hospitals on site.

Hospices civils de Lyon, the second largest university hospital in France, integrate all disciplines, and bring together 14 multidisciplinary or specialized establishments. They employ more than 22,000 professionals with the most advanced equipment.

In addition to meeting a number of management and field staff, this study tour made it possible to understand the contribution of Lean Management in hospitals and to cover the issues raised by its implementation in one of Europe largest university hospital group.

For further information please contact: n.desjardins@fhf.fr.

Announcement

The post Lean Management in Hospitals: the example of the Hospices civils de Lyon – 2-3 February 2017 – Lyon (France) appeared first on Hope.