Creating a more resilient health system is one of the main purposes of the Semmelweis Plan – among other subjects, that was the main topic of the workshop on using EU Structural Funds to improve institutional capacity of public authorities, which was hosted by the Health Services Management Training Centre of the Semmelweis University. Organised as part of the EU funded 'Health Gain' project, the workshop brought together participants from the UK, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Lithuania and Hungary to explore the opportunities to improve population’s health across all Structural Fund programming.
Dr Miklos Szocska, Minister of State for Health, delivered a keynote speech highlighting Hungary's role in coordinating a reflection process on how to use the Structural Funds more effectively in the 2014-2020 period. He commented,
"For new Member States, these are the only predictable source of funds for capital investment to reform health systems so that they can survive the increased demand from chronic diseases and demographic shifts in society".
Dr Szocska set out the key elements in the Semmelweis Plan 'Resusciated Health Care' for a more resilient health system that relies less on expensive hospital care and strengthens community based care and emphasized personal responsibility for managing their own health.
Dr Lidia Georgeva from the Sofia Medical University outlined the 'Government Social Responsibility' project which aims to translate the principles of good governance into practice through ISO quality benchmarks for public administrations. Professor Mark McCarthy from University College London presented the STEPS project which examined how Central and Eastern European countries had used the research budget within the EU Structural Funds and the potential to generate evidence for better public health policies. Presenting the 'DPSEEA' model, Dr Ben Cave, Team Leader of the Health Gain project, described it as a way of understanding the complexity of public health issues.
Akos Moskovits, from the European Commission Representation in Hungary explained that 7 countries, including Hungary, had allocated a small but significant share (2 %) of their Structural Funds towards upgrading and modernising healthcare infrastructure and care facilities. He noted that in the next funding cycle (2014-2020) better targeting of the funds and alignment with key strategic EU goals on poverty reduction could improve the efficiency of investments for health.
(Ministry of Human Resources)
