PISCE: EPF joins the platform of Experts of the self-care tender

Picture: Ian Banks pictured on the right side of the picture © EPF

The PISCE Platform of Experts – a group set up to lead work on the promotion of self-care in the EU – met for the first time on 1-2 March 2015 in Utrecht, in The Netherlands. The European Commission confirmed patients’ representatives from EPF’s membership and secretariat as members of this Platform.

PISCE is the “Pilot project on the promotion of self-care systems in the European Union”, a tender project of the European Commission that runs from September 2014 to February 2016. EPF is part of the consortium of project partners, together with many of our allies from the EMPATHIE tender.

We are pleased that two experts from among our members were confirmed as members of the Platform of Experts: Ian Banks (European Men’s Health Forum) and Maria Merce Rovira Regas (European Institute for Women’s Health). In addition, Kaisa Immonen-Charalambous represents the Secretariat and is responsible for liaison with the wider membership during the project.

New technologies, such as Internet platforms, mobile apps, and sensor devices, offer new opportunities for stimulating self-care and empowerment of patients. Self-care support can lead to better quality of life and more efficient use of resources in the health system.

PISCE will address general issues regarding self-care that will be relevant to many patients – such as health literacy, access to high-quality information, and health inequalities such as access to services. The role of EPF as representative of patients in the consortium and the platform is precisely to make sure that the patients’ perspective is embedded at all relevant points.

More information: www.eu-patient.eu/whatwedo/Projects/pisce

Contact: Kaisa Immonen-Charalambous, EPF Senior Policy Advisor, kaisa.immonen.charalambous@eu-patient.eu