The Observatory presents latest products at the informal meeting of Health Ministers under the auspices of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union
The European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies accepted the invitation from the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) to attend the informal meeting of Health Ministers on 11 and 12 October 2021.
In collaboration with the Slovenian Presidency, the Observatory hosted public webinars on both days to mark the launch of the new Slovenian Health Systems Review and a policy brief on European support for improving health and care systems.
The Slovenian Health System Review
Katherine Polin and Tit Albrecht presented some of the key findings from the new Slovenian Health System Review (HiT), which is based on national and international reports and input from experts:
- Some challenges persist, namely related to obesity and liver diseases due to alcohol consumption;
- Health spending is below EU average;
- There is high accessibility and financial protection;
- Lack of planning impacts care delivery and health personnel workload;
- Preventable mortality has improved, with scope for progress in avoidable hospital admissions; and
- Considerable reforms took place in public health, primary care, chronic care and digital health.
The Slovenian Secretary of State for Health, Franc Vindišar, also highlighted the country’s low out-of-pocket expenditure and increase in average life expectancy, while acknowledging the need to address inequities and long waiting times in health services.
Moreover, COVID-19 is not just a challenge but also an opportunity to achieve the long-term vision of Slovenia’s health system, as underlined by Vesna-Kerstin Petrič, who leads Slovenia’s Public Health Directorate at the Ministry of Health and is a member of the Steering Committee of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.
Natasha Azzopardi Muscat, Director of Country Health Policies and Systems at the WHO Regional Office for Europe, praised Slovenia for its example in innovation, financial protection, universal health coverage and access to medicines.
Nathalie Berger, Director for Support to Member State reforms from the European Commission’s Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM), highlighted both the importance of solidarity and the ways the Commission can use leverage to help Member States in transforming their health systems.
European support for improving health and care systems: A Slovenian Presidency health priority
The Slovenian Presidency asked the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies to produce a mapping of the different European Union tools and instruments which Member States could use to strengthen their health systems.
Moments before the public launch of ‘European support for improving health and care systems’, the director of the Observatory, Josep Figueras, presented the new policy brief to the EU Health Ministers who were gathered for their informal meeting under the Slovenian Presidency.
During the public launch, the Slovenian Minister of Health, Janez Poklukar, recognized the need for guidance to use, in a more efficient and strategic way, the wide range of tools and mechanisms that the EU has developed for investing in health systems. The Minister praised the new policy brief for presenting very complex information on EU tools in an organized way and emphasized its usefulness for Member States moving forward.
Nicole Mauer from the Observatory presented key messages from the brief, including:
- The available tools address different parts of change processes. Making best use of these instruments typically requires combining various EU tools with different objectives across multiple stages of the change process.
- Being able to draw on EU support has been increasingly important, in particular for Member States that have joined since 2004.
- As health systems across Europe deal with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is scope for greater collaboration between individual countries and at EU level to make best use of EU tools to strengthen health systems.
- There is potential to combine support from the EU with support from other sources, such as national and regional instruments or other international bodies like the WHO, although this also presents countries with the challenge of combining instruments with diverse objectives and processes.
A strong public health perspective must guide investment in health systems to ensure the money that is available is being used with a purpose, recommended Natasha Azzopardi Muscat, reminding participants that mental health and digital health are some of the key priorities of the EU4Health programme and WHO’s European Programme of Work “United Action for Better Health”.
Urška Erklavec from the Slovenian Ministry of Health reiterated the importance of innovation and implementation under the Slovenian Presidency, and highlighted the potential contribution of the brief in enabling Member States to move forward. Clemens Auer from the Austrian Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection shared the experience of how Austria leveraged EU tools to support comprehensive primary care reforms, and Christine Berling from the French Ministry of Solidarity and Health reflected on how the upcoming French Presidency of the Council of the EU will carry forward the work initiated by Slovenia in this area.
Further information:
- Slovenia - Health Systems Review - document and webinar recording
- European support for improving health care systems (policy brief) - document and webinar recording
- Visit the website of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU