Chain of Trust

Duration: 24 months (January 2011 – 2013) Status: completed EPF-led project Funding Programme: EU Public Health Programme

What is the project about?

The "Chain of Trust" project assessed the perspective of the main end users of telehealth services across the EU to see whether and how views have evolved since the initial deployment of telehealth and what barriers there still are to building confidence in and acceptance of this innovative type of services.

Project Objectives

The project resulted in an assessment of the views, needs, benefits and barriers related to telehealth from the perspective of patients, doctors, nurses and pharmacists.

Ultimately the project aimed at strengthening significantly the levels of awareness and trust for all key stakeholders. The findings and the recommendations will constitute a unique tool to inform policies and decision-making at various levels.

Consortium

The project consortium comprised the following partners:

• European Patients’ Forum (EPF, project leader)
• Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME)
• Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU)
• European Federation of Nurses Associations (EFN)
• Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine and Integrated Care (NST)
• Latvian Umbrella Body for Disability Organisations (SUSTENTO).

EPF Role

EPF was the coordinator of this project. Content-wise EPF played a strong role in all activities contributing to collecting knowledge on users’ perspective on telehealth, with a focus on patients’ views. EPF was also leading the work relating to raising awareness of user perspective both EU-wise and nationally and is in charge of organising the final project conference set to take place in January 2013   

Impact on patient community

For the first time ever, a project assessed the perspective of the main end-users of telehealth services, i.e. patients, doctors, nurses and pharmacists across the EU. In doing so the Chain of Trust project is expected to make a strong contribution in terms of positioning users at the centre of telehealth policy debates and fostering more patient-centered telehealth services in Europe.