Patient centredness

The idea of patient-centred health systems is widely advocated in political and policy declarations to better address health system challenges. A patient-centred approach is advocated on political, ethical and instrumental grounds and believed to benefit service users, health professionals and the health system more broadly. However, there is continuing debate about the strategies that are available and effective to promote and implement patient-centred’ approaches.

To elucidate the debate on strategies and implementation, the European Observatory’s workplan includes the analysis of current challenges and issues. It examines patient-centredness from the different roles people take in health systems, as individual service users, care managers, taxpayers or active citizens. The evidence presented does only provide invaluable policy advice to practitioners and policy-makers working on the design and implementation of patient-centred health systems but will also be an excellent resource for academics and graduate students researching health systems in Europe.