DHE - Digital Tools for Patient Empowerment and Person-Centred Care – Workshop

On 5 & 6 October 2020, the European Patients’ Forum (EPF) hosted a two-day multi-stakeholder workshop under the framework of the DigitalHealthEurope project. The workshop brought together a breadth of participants including patient advocates, healthcare professionals, policy makers, industry, and other health stakeholders with an interest in digital tools that can empower patients and foster their collaboration with healthcare professionals. It took place over two days of plenary and breakout sessions, enabling all participants to contribute their views and shape the discussion.

Participants discussed the key recommendations of the EPF empowerment roadmap for more successful collaboration between patients and health systems, validated the in-depth analyses developed by EPF, and helped to further identify barriers and enablers to the procurement, adoption, trust and integration of digital health solutions.

Participants highlighted the need to account for the diversity and knowledge of digital health across various patient groups, emphasising that digital health literacy and education are key. The role of trust to improve the uptake of digital solutions was stressed – it plays a central role not only in co-creation, but also in empowerment and in the implementation of clear and easy to understand frameworks.

Participants also emphasised the importance of systems/organisational changes to embed patient involvement through structured frameworks. Patients underscored that they are not only co-creators and recipients of care, but they also play the role of innovators. Lastly, the role of digital health tools in traditional care pathways was also raised.

The insights generated will inform the work of EPF in its task to deliver a roadmap and white paper to empower patients through their active cooperation with health and care professionals in large-scale health ecosystems.

You can access the workshop presentations HERE and follow the online discussion on Twitter.

 

To learn more about the role of the European Patients’ Forum, and the benefits to patients, head to our project page. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 826353.