The
report was prepared by the eHealth Stakeholder Group (east), an advisory group
to the Commission. The eHealth Stakeholder Group is composed of representatives
from the most important European organisations active in the eHealth field,
covering a wide range of stakeholders: from patients, consumers,
healthcare professionals to the industry and was created following a call for
expression of interest end 2011.
In
general terms this report gives useful information on the state of play of e-Health in equalities whilst simultaneously
providing the Commission with a series of key recommendations to advance
e-Health in the EU.
The key recommendations
put forward in order to combat e-Health inequalities include the following:
- Integrate
eHealth into overall health and social care system policy- all measures should be put
in place to allow the health record to move with the patient so as to enable
health professionals to communicate remotely with each other and with patients.This particular recommendation is very much in keeping with the issues
raised by the EU Health Ministers in their recent Informal Meeting and as such
signals the mounting awareness of the need to include e-Health as a central
facet of each Member State health system.
- Improve
access and involve all stakeholders- This
particular recommendation lends itself to highlighting the need for eHealth solutions to
become more widely accepted. it is important for them to be as accessible,
affordable and user-centric as possible.
- Accommodate
diverse needs and reduce technological pressure- this recommendation
advocates the need for tailored solutions in order to accommodate the needs of
specific population groups. Additionally, It is also highlighted that end users
must be exposed to what concrete benefits eHealth can bring to their lives in
order for deployment to become routine.
- Improve
digital health literacy and ensure user education at all levels- Since eHealth literacy
comprises a whole set of different literacyā€™s, there is a growing need to educate
and train individuals in all of these elements, especially members of
vulnerable and at-risk groups
This report will also be shared with the eHealth Governance Initiative which gives technical support to the
eHealth Network, a network of Member States representativeā€™s expert in the
field of eHealth.
