Ehealth: a dilemma for Europe
David Lloyd-Williams, who has been involved in healthcare
development at the pan-European level for 15 years, argues that we need to
face up to the inescapable need to make much greater use of electronic
communications.
abstract
The dilemma being confronted by each of the 25 countries of the European
Union about whether or not to invest in larger electronic communications
schemes in healthcare is described. Radical change is inevitable but the
approaches and steps to be taken are by no means set in stone. The European
Commission and the ministers of the member states have signed up to
ehealthcare but have not yet consolidated their approaches to making it
happen.
The rest of Europe is watching closely what happens in England, hoping
that it will provide some clear ways forward for individual countries and
for Europe as a whole. The imperatives are clear but the choices are not
easy.
Slow-growth economies and political turmoil are not the best environments
for large scale, high-risk and long-term investment in public services. Each
country has different healthcare dynamics, cultural issues and political
priorities, and the European Commission has a limited remit. There are
plenty of aspirations but also real dilemmas over how to achieve them.
Br J Healthcare Comput Info Manage 2004; 21(10): 17–19. |
