Review of European Union law and policy with reference to disability
Download 0.75 Mb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- Investing in Health’
- 2009 Communication on Solidarity in Health: Reducing Health Inequalities in the EU
- 2011 Directive on the application of patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare
- 2005 Green Paper
- Council Recommendation on a European action in the field of rare diseases
- OTHER INSTRUMENTS
1.7HealthThe EU Strategy ‘Together for health’ (document 07.05) elaborates on the relationship between health and disability, and briefly announces the development of an action on mental health (as a factor affecting health). The independent mid-term evaluation of the Strategy on Health, conducted in 2011, regrets the absence of more specific measurable actions in the Strategy and suggests that inspiration be drawn from the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020.60 The Strategy was originally intended to run from 2007 until 2013, but the evaluation showed that its objectives would remain relevant for the next decade in the context of Europe 2020 Strategy, prompting the Commission to extend the Strategy until 2020. In 2013, the Commission adopted, as part of the Social Investment Package (document 06.15), a Staff Working Document ‘Investing in Health’ (document 07.12) that demonstrates how investing in health contributes to the Europe 2020 objective of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The paper makes proposals for smart spending on sustainable health systems, investing in health-promotion programmes and tackling social exclusion. In particular, the document emphasises the relationship between disability, poverty and health inequalities. Disability as a factor which increases the risk of health inequality had already been explicitly recognised in the Commission 2009 Communication on Solidarity in Health: Reducing Health Inequalities in the EU (document 07.09). The 2013 Commission staff working document (document 07.13) gives a statistical overview of health inequalities in the EU and reports on the implementation of the Communication. The report refers to both the EU’s obligations under the CRPD and the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020. The 2011 Directive on the application of patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare (document 07.01) aims at clarifying and promoting the rights of patients to access healthcare in another EU Member State. The Directive has the potential to improve the lives of persons with disabilities or chronic illnesses who travel to another Member State to receive specialised medical treatment that is either not available, or otherwise difficult to obtain, in their own Member State. The Directive provides that information about cross-border healthcare is to be provided in accessible formats. Patients with disabilities who need to be accompanied by a personal assistant may apply for reimbursement of extra costs, but the decision whether to refund remains at the discretion of the Member States. The 2015 Commission report on the operation of the Directive does not address the situation of persons with disabilities.61 Mental health has been specifically addressed by the Commission in a 2005 Green Paper (document 07.03). Building on the Green Paper, a European Pact for Mental Health was adopted in 2008 at a high-level conference of the then EU presidency62 and welcomed by Council Conclusions (document 07.11). The European Disability Strategy aims to use the Pact to ‘promote modern mental health services and long term care facilities’. The Joint Action Mental Health and Well-Being, launched in 2013 and running until 2016, brings together the Member States and other stakeholders around the issue of community-based inclusive mental health care.63 The Council Recommendation on a European action in the field of rare diseases (document 07.07), preceded by a Commission Communication on the same subject (document 07.06) proposes the establishment, before 2013, of national plans for rare diseases in order to ensure universal access of patients to high quality care. The Recommendation also calls for a common EU definition and codification of rare diseases and invites the Member States to identify research priorities on rare diseases. A strategic objective of the European Commission in this regard is the creation of a European Platform on Rare Diseases Registration that would provide services for the national registries of rare diseases in the Member States. The implementation report (document 07.14) published by the Commission in 2014, notes significant progress in the area since 2008: the EU policy framework resulted in sixteen Member States adopting national action plans and produced better cooperation at the European level. The report finds, nevertheless, that more work needs to be done to decrease inequalities between persons with rare and more common diseases, and to promote patient empowerment, among other things. The report also calls for better synergies between the rare diseases policy and the European Directive on cross-border healthcare (document 07.01). The third EU Health Programme (document 10.16) funds the European initiatives in the area of health.
Directory: content -> aned -> media content -> Resolution content -> American bar association adopted by the house of delegates content -> Additional File 26 content -> Guide to completing the collection using the Omnibus system content -> Management and Marketing content -> Sigaccess annual Report content -> Study Guide For Students Only Dress Rehearsal January 29, 2014 7: 00 pm jubilee Auditorium content -> Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World Section One content -> Extended range forecast of atlantic seasonal hurricane activity and landfall strike probability for 2013 media -> European Semester 2015/2016 country fiche on disability Belgium Download 0.75 Mb. Share with your friends:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||