All.Can International is pleased to endorse the recently launched report Strengthening Healthcare Systems Through Better Patient Safety in the Fight Against Cancer: A Call for Stronger EU Action, published by the European Network for Safer Healthcare, an initiative of Health First Europe.
This comprehensive white paper outlines the importance of patient safety measures and how they are missing from Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan (EBCP). Ten separate policy recommendations are defined with the aim of cementing patient safety on the EU health policy agenda.
At present, Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan fails to include the critical concept of patient safety, which is a critical factor of cancer care efficiency and remains a serious challenge for healthcare systems across the globe. This includes developed countries such as those in the European Union.
This new report illustrates and draws attention to the most common types of preventable patient harm, the prevalence and severity of the identified harm, and aims to encourage the inclusion of patient safety in the implementation of the Beating Cancer Plan as well as ensure patient safety is firmly respected and acknowledged within EU policy. Not adding patient safety standards in the EBCP carries the risk of irreversible patient safety issues that could potentially jeopardize the treatments and outcomes of cancer care and quality of life overall.
Patient safety in oncology should remain a standard indicator of the quality of care and a critical objective on the EU health policy agenda as all European citizens deserve the same level of safeguarding and protection at all stages of their healthcare. This report calls on European policy makers and national health authorities to update the Council conclusions on patient safety and quality of care, which have not been updated since 2014.