EUSEM Call for patient representatives with an interest in Emergency Medicine

Our friends at the European Patients’ Forum (EPF) have kindly asked to assist in their quest in search for patient representatives with a particular interest or experience in Emergency Medicine and who would be interested in participating in the following project:

Breaking Depression – 1 in 4 people will be personally affected by mental health problems, such as depression, during their lives

About this project

Janssen, together with EUFAMI and GAMIAN are developing practical resources to help people living with depression and family carers to have productive conversations with their doctors. In order for these to be useful, we want to understand the real-life experiences of people living with depression.

To do this, we are interviewing people living with depression, family carers and healthcare professionals. The topics that will be discussed with people living with depression include:

• The first time your loved one talked about depression with a doctor or specialist
• Your experience of your loved one’s diagnosis
• Treatment and symptom management
• Advice you have for others in these situations

How would the interview work?

• The virtual interview will be no longer than 1-hour and will take place w/c 19 July (exact date is still TBC). It will likely take place via phone, unless you have a specific preference for an alternative platform.
• The interview questions will be shared ahead of the call.
• You will be interviewed in English by a representative from Langland, a communications agency based in London supporting Janssen with the project roll-out. The call will be recorded for the purpose of insight gathering and notetaking. The recording will be deleted 6 weeks after the interview.

• The insights gathered from the interview will inform the educational resources we will create. All responses you provide will be anonymised and will not be attached to identifiable factors, such as your name or profession.

All Policies for a Healthy Europe – Improving citizen’s well-being

New ways of defining economic and societal goals are emerging. The old GDP-centric model is giving way to approaches that place human and environmental well-being at the heart of government policy. The Sustainable Development Goals are a crucial example of this, as is the growing emphasis on the need to ensure ‘inclusive growth’ and reduced inequalities. If the EU is to respond to the needs and concerns of its citizens, it is vital that the new European institutions should embrace the paradigm shift. Citizens’ well-being must be at the centre of EU policies.

GAMIAN-Europe calls for concrete action to empower those affected by mental ill health

Empowering people affected by mental ill health is beneficial to individuals and their carers. It is also crucial for developing more patient centered, efficient and cost-effective health systems.

This is the key message of a comprehensive Call to Action launched by GAMIAN-Europe today.
The Call, developed with the direct input from a variety of leading EU-level and national (mental) health stakeholders, addresses what can be undertaken concretely to overcome the current pervasive disempowering attitudes and behaviours towards people affected by mental ill health.

GAMIAN-Europe, a patient-driven organisation advocating the rights of those affected by mental ill health, developed this Call as one of its priorities as the huge prevalence and impact of mental health conditions cannot be overlooked: 11 % of the European population experience mental disorders every year. The proportion of national health budgets devoted to mental health ranges between 4% to 13% across the EU.

Mental health conditions go hand in hand with substantial costs and consequences impacting on individuals, families and carers, health and social systems, the economy and society as a whole. As a consequence, there is an obvious need to address these conditions in the most effective and appropriate way. Empowered patients, managing their own care and treatment, can help address this need.

While the notion of and need for patient empowerment has gained ground for physical health conditions in recent years, this is not generally the case for those affected by mental ill health. Likewise, when it comes to physical health, patients are generally viewed as sufficiently competent to self-manage their treatment and care – as opposed to those affected by mental health problems. The Call therefore underlines that most people with mental ill health, most of the time, do have the competence to self-manage their treatment and care.

Clearly, perceptions and services should be changed to reflect the need for more empowerment and patient involvement in the field of mental health. The Call to Action urges the various different categories of stakeholders involved to take appropriate action to effect progress in their specific areas of expertise.

The Call to Action has already been endorsed by some 25 EU-level and national (mental) health-related organisations as well as by a number of MEPs. GAMIAN-Europe is now warmly inviting all interested organisations to also endorse the Call, as widespread support for its principles and recommendations will stimulate and facilitate implementation across the EU.

EUFAMI supports EBC’s Statement calling on the European Commission

EUFAMI supports EBC’s Statement calling on the European Commission, European Parliament, and the Council of the EU to increase the future budget of “Horizon Europe” to a minimum of €120 billion.  The call also emphasises that it is essential that a much higher proportion of the research budget is allocated to the “health” cluster.

Third EU Health Programme – 2018 call for proposals open

The Work Programme 2018 will focus resources on European Reference Networks for rare diseases, health promotion, mitigating cross-border health threats and medical devices. The deadline for submitting proposals is 26 April 2018.

The Prospect Plus Project Phase II – Press Statement

The Prospect Project is a peer-to-peer training programme designed by EUFAMI to empower families in mental health.

EUFAMI is very pleased to announce that the collaborative partnership with Johnson & Johnson Foundation formed in 2019, will continue.

Earlier this year, the Prospect Plus project successfully completed the first phase and produced the revised Prospect Family and Friends Training Programme. This was accomplished with a project partnership of 6 EUFAMI member organisations who worked on, and invaluably contributed to, updating and revising the original content and materials from 2004.

The EUFAMI Acting President, André Decraene has commented that:

“Prospect is a growing European community and with our collaborative partnership with the Johnson & Johnson Foundation, EUFAMI hopes to support its growth and outreach to all family and friend carers”

The second phase of the Prospect Plus project is more ambitious. Over the next 2 years, EUFAMI will lead the updating process of the Prospect Training Program for People with Self-Experience, the Prospect training for Health and Social Care Professional and the Common Ground Module. This is an essential step for the Prospect Training Programmes as a whole.

The second phase of the Prospect Plus project will also develop and create a digital platform to support present and future EUFAMI members who implement Prospect.

For this ambitious phase, EUFAMI is very happy to have once again, Gwen Crawford, as the project leader. Commenting on the launch, Gwen said:

 “I am delighted to form part of the EUFAMI team, and it is a privilege to take on this next phase of the Prospect Plus project”

The work on this phase has already commenced. Updates on the process will be posted on the EUFAMI website and social media.

OECD- Well-being and Mental Health – Towards an integrated policy approach 6-9 December 2021

We are pleased to inform you that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will be hosting a series of online events on Well-being and Mental Health – Towards an integrated policy approach.