Translation of "Aide au service de soins aux patients " (French → English) :

Adequate forecasting and planning contributes to ensuring the sustainability of health systems and meeting current and future challenges. These include an ageing workforce and ageing patients; increased services to manage chronic conditions, mental health, long-term care and social care; new patterns of health workforce and the growing migration of health workers across countries.

(17) Personal data relating to health should include in particular all data pertaining to the health status of a data subject, information about the registration of the individual for the provision of health services; information about payments or eligibility for healthcare with respect to the individual; a number, symbol or particular assigned to an individual to uniquely identify the individual for health purposes; any information about the individual collected in the course of the provision of health services to the individual; information derived from the testing or e ...[+++]xamination of a body part or bodily substance, including biological samples; identification of a person as provider of healthcare to the individual; or any information on, for example; a disease, disability, disease risk, medical history, clinical treatment, or the actual physiological or biomedical state of the data subject independent of its source, e.g. from a physician or other health professional, a hospital, a medical device, or an in vitro diagnostic test.

(26) Personal data relating to health should include in particular all data pertaining to the health status of a data subject; information about the registration of the individual for the provision of health services; information about payments or eligibility for healthcare with respect to the individual; a number, symbol or particular assigned to an individual to uniquely identify the individual for health purposes; any information about the individual collected in the course of the provision of health services to the individual; information derived from the testing or ...[+++]examination of a body part or bodily substance, including biological samples; identification of a person as provider of healthcare to the individual; or any information on e.g. a disease, disability, disease risk, medical history, clinical treatment, or the actual physiological or biomedical state of the data subject independent of its source, such as e.g. from a physician or other health professional, a hospital, a medical device, or an in vitro diagnostic test.

3. In order to enable patients to make use of their rights in relation to cross-border healthcare, national contact points in the Member State of treatment shall provide them with information concerning healthcare providers, including, on request, information on a specific provider’s right to provide services or any restrictions on its practice, information referred to in Article 4(2)(a), as well as information on patients’ rights, ...[+++] complaints procedures and mechanisms for seeking remedies, according to the legislation of that Member State, as well as the legal and administrative options available to settle disputes, including in the event of harm arising from cross-border healthcare.

However, this depends on standardisation of system components and services such as health information systems, health messages, electronic health record architecture, and patient identifying services.

* The development of this strategy will be regularly presented during the annual "Green Week" and in the "European Health Forum", established by the Commission in 2001 and consisting of representatives of NGO's, health providers, patients, industry and health professionals and will also be presented on "European Health Day" to be organised from 2004 onwards.