PACT joins the European health community to call for EU Action on Access to Healthcare

March 1, 2017

The Patient Access Partnership (PACT) joins the European Patients’ Forum (EPF) with the campaign entitled “Universal Health Coverage For All”. We encourage policy-makers to ensure Universal Health Coverage for All by 2030 and foster EU cooperation on Access to Healthcare.

Improving access to quality healthcare for patients across the EU is the core value of PACT. We believe that patients across the EU are entitled to equal opportunity to enjoy the highest attainable quality of health services and care. Through dialogue and cooperation with all stakeholders, PACT contributes to the efforts to ensure better access to health care, services and treatment for patients in a non-discriminatory manner.

“Universal Coverage For All” affirms the human right to health. The ambitious campaign sends a strong message to politicians, health stakeholders and society as a whole that all of us are entitled to receive quality, timely and appropriate health care. Aspiring to the Health SDGs, it demands concrete measures and commitment on behalf of decision-makers to make universal healthcare a reality for all by 2030. In this respect, this is not just a patient campaign – these are values that we all have a responsibility to endorse, uphold and enact.” said Stanimir Hasardzhiev, Secretary-General of PACT.

The one-year campaign was officially launched on 27 February at the European Parliament, in Brussels. The event – co-hosted by MEP Kateřina Konečná (GUE/NGL, Czech Republic) and MEP Andrey Kovatchev (EPP, Bulgaria) – provided an opportunity to present the campaign and to discuss what actions should be taken to achieve Universal Health Coverage at European level. Among the keynote speakers at the event were Isabel de la Mata (European Commission), Agnès Couffinhal (OECD), Josep Figueras (European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies), Alyna Smith (PICUM) and Juan Fuertes (PHA Europe).

#Access2030

“Universal Health Coverage For All” is the tagline of the EPF campaign, calling on policy-makers to adopt an action plan on access to healthcare that improves access to quality health and social care for every patient across Europe.

The five “A” representing the dimensions of Access are:

  • Availability – whether a healthcare service or product is available in the healthcare system of a country.
  • Affordability – whether seeking healthcare causes financial hardship to patients.
  • Accessibility – whether there are barriers, other than financial (e.g. waiting lists, geographical barriers…), that stop patients from accessing healthcare.
  • Adequacy – the quality of healthcare and involvement of patients in shared decision making with their healthcare professionals.
  • Appropriateness – whether healthcare meets the need of different groups in the population.

The purpose of this campaign is to raise awareness among political decision and policy-makers about the barriers that patients face in accessing healthcare and to foster EU cooperation on the field to improve the current system.

The outcomes of the campaign will contribute to shaping and developing recommendations and a political document, calling policy-makers to commit to in order to achieve Universal Health Coverage For All by 2030.