EU Health Systems Post-Pandemic: Delivering Care to Patients at the Right Place and Time
A Friends of Europe report, with recommendations on how to optimise delivery of care to patients
The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly been a challenging burden for healthcare systems across Europe. There was a need to prioritise COVID-19 care and urgent care, which left other healthcare services lacking attention, including routine care.
As health systems shift again in towards a post-pandemic world, there is a unique opportunity to “build back better”. It is possible to completely rethink the organisation and delivery of health care across the board.
This report sets out 3 recommendations for how the European Union can support the transformation and modernisation of healthcare, through concrete action at the European, national and local levels:
- Make the patient the point of care
- Promote integrated care pathways, through community and home-based care
- Make the architecture of healthcare digital by default, to support integrated care
Ultimately, the starting point for the future organisation of health must be patient-centredness. Health needs to support patients outside of traditional healthcare settings; be integrated with social welfare services; and digitalised. Patients need greater say in healthcare, with more involvement and choices in their treatment options.
