The European Health Innovation Collaborative

Report from EuHIC
Putting Patients First conference
​held in Berlin 2018

Following on from their conference in May 2018, the European Health Innovation Collaborative (EuHIC) have put together a report on the findings from the conference. The 2018 conference Putting Patients First was born from the tendency of medicine to approach things from an academic point of view and neglecting patient perspectives, leaving patients feeling alienated and unable to join the conversation.
 
The multi-discipline, not-for-profit conference focused on gaining the perspectives of patients, patients’ families, carers, patient organisations, healthcare professionals, and representatives from across pharma and academia.
 
The enlightening sessions, were delivered by a host of speakers, including being opened by the EuHIC presidents Richard Stephens and Achim Kautz. Former BBC presenter Roger Wilson also delivered a short video. These sessions sparked debate across an array of topics and focused on bringing the patient onto centre stage, highlighting the value of patient-centric, participatory medicine.
 
The topics covered included:

•   Let's talk: better communication in healthcare
•   Harnessing patient experience in science, healthcare and policy, and the value of patient collaboration
•   Patient perspectives on managing chronic disease
•   Common frustrations of patients and doctors
•   Palliative care and the psychology associated with coping with illness.

A key message from the conference 

The conference provided a platform for productive debate on patient-centric participatory medicine, taking into consideration the views of representatives from every corner of the healthcare spectrum. A topic that was raised frequently was the importance of patient-doctor communication. Both parties can derive great benefit from frank and open discussion during consultations.  

A topic that sparked great debate was patient involvement in medical science and practice. Industry and healthcare providers alike would gain from working closely with patients at all stages of developing medical guidance. It was highlighted that the patient's voice is an untapped resource of colossal significance. Future developments in healthcare would benefit from the medical community paying close attention to the voice of the patient.

---

​London and Berlin 2019 Patient heal thy self conferences
The second patient-orientated conference will be in London on 16 May and Berlin 22 May. The programme will comprise of a series of short presentations. The overall title is 'Patient heal thyself'. The thinking here is that the health system has finite resources and patients need to take responsibility for their well-being, be it by optimising interaction with doctors, symptom management, mental health, nutrition, exercise etc.

The day will be broken into four 90 minute blocks and further subdivided into 30-minute sessions (to include a final keynote address). Dr Adrian Tookman (Clinical Director, Marie Curie) will be the Physician, President.

A short film providing the highlights of Putting Patients First, May 2018 can be found here. (18th May 2018) here.