Questions for the expert panel

• Author: Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (European Commission)
• Pages: 13-14

The organisation of resilient health and social care

following the COVID-19 pandemic

13

transform health systems so that they are stronger and less vulnerable to shocks in the

future.

The design of healthcare systems varies significantly across EU Members States, which

makes it a challenge to establish a single framework or specific recommendations for

transforming them. However, there is an obvious need to develop a conceptual

framework that can guide healthcare reform, with particular attention to the organisation

of and connections among primary, outpatient specialist, and hospital care and social

care. It will be important to reflect on the necessary elements and conditions for

capacity-building both at national and EU levels.

This complex framework must encompass several areas, including financing and

investment needs, coordination of care, crisis preparedness, health workforce planning,

staff retention, working conditions, and mobility, patient safety, and clinical management

(across the entire patient pathway). It is also important to determine how to gather,

process, use, protect, and ensure the quality of health data and to determine the optimal

roles of novel digital solutions such as telemedicine and tele-monitoring.

How canwe evaluate the service delivery capacity of primary care, outpatient specialist

and hospital care and social care providers and their interaction with public health

services? How can primary care, outpatient specialist and hospital care and social care

improve preparedness to tackle unpredictable emergencies and high-pressure scenarios?

What are the structures, mechanisms and interrelationships for strengthening healthcare

provision? What would resilience testing for health systems look like across the EU?

QUESTIONS FOR THE EXPERT PANEL

The Expert Panel is requested to provide a concise but meaningful document with

analysis and recommendations on the following points:

a)What are the building blocks to improve care organisation (structures, processes,

resources, interrelationships), and what criteria should be used for a continuous

evaluation of the appropriateness of service delivery capacity of primary care, outpatient

specialist and hospital care and social care?

b)What are the elements and conditions for capacity building in primary care,

outpatient specialist and hospital care and social care that would strengthen their overall

robustness to unpredictable events and capacity to ensure access to care and treatment

continuity?

c)How can healthcare provision be sustained for vulnerable patient groups with

urgent needs for care/cure, like patients with rare conditions, cancer patients or patients