It is essential for the healthcare systems to be upgraded; and healthcare professionals should have better working conditions, stressed Minister of State for Healthcare, of the Ministry of National Resources, Miklós Szócska, in an interview to eu2011.hu prior to the informal min-isterial meeting which began on 4 April.

What are the key items on the European Union’s healthcare agenda? What topics does the Presidency want to discuss at the two-day informal meeting of EU health ministers?

The EU’s cooperation in healthcare is about its Health Strategy adopted in 2007, which clearly reflects the increasing significance of health and the healthcare system. The EU is now facing a number of challenges in the field of healthcare, including the development of more modern, efficient, and accessible national healthcare systems, capable of better response time to needs, the constant reinforcement of healthcare safety, and the promotion of a healthier lifestyle.

These issues are becoming more topical as European countries are also seeking solutions to these similar problems, as well as other issues at different levels. The agenda of national healthcare policies is determined by aging societies, increasing demands for healthcare, dwindling resources, and the continuing lack of healthcare professionals. The global financial-economic crisis only intensifies the demand for modernisation, and greater efficiency.

These processes and expectations provide a comprehensive framework for the Hungarian Presidency’s healthcare priorities. The main healthcare subject, which is also on the agenda of the informal meeting of health ministers, titled “Patient paths and the careers of professionals in Europe.”This extremely complex approach is aimed to assess how the cooperation amongst the Member States could contribute, in order to meet healthcare challenges in the future.

Right on the first day of the informal meeting of health ministers, the Presidency initiated a debate in a key subject: healthcare systems in the future. What is the purpose of the discussion?

Although healthcare systems are part of the national competence of Member States, it seems necessary to think about the connection between the healthcare systems in the future, the new organisational frameworks, and patient paths. It is necessary to create and operate systems efficiently and cost effective for the citizens. Common challenges call for common thinking about the ways to provide general access to healthcare, and to ensure equality and quality along with the sustainability of healthcare systems.

The relevant experiences and best practices of Member States are widely known and applied. It seems topical to consider the possible Union-level cooperation schemes and activities for the interconnection of the appropriate skills, pool of professionals and databases in this key area.

The informal meeting will also discuss the issue of health professionals. In what sense is this topic significant, and what are the relevant efforts of the Presidency?

Healthcare systems are, and will only remain viable with an appropriate number of properly qualified professionals. Therefore, in the health sector it is important to retain professionals, to improve their working conditions and to look at the required new qualifications and skills. With a view to aging, also impacting healthcare professionals, it is of utmost significance, both at a national and at an EU level, to train an appropriate number of healthcare professionals.

The EU’s healthcare programme will expire in 2013. Do you think it would be justified to have successive programmes as frameworks for the cooperation of Member States?

In my view, it is very important to renew and continue the EU’s community action programme in healthcare. The fundamental aim of the programme, is to implement the EU’s health strategy adopted in 2007. Therefore, I believe, its aims will remain in harmony with the comprehensive strategic aims of the modernisation of healthcare systems, the establishment of healthcare safety, the support and assurance of a healthier lifestyle.

Basically the question is what to focus on? At this point, we perceive that there has been more focus on healthcare safety and the prevention of diseases so far. However, in the future the modernisation of healthcare systems will play a greater role. Healthcare safety and issues of epidemiology will always remain on the agenda as required by the current epidemiologic situation.

(eu2011.hu)