sector such as emergency care, psychiatry and
maternity wards. Better continuity of care and
improved patient involvement are two further
national targets. “It is common understanding
that the improvement of results for patients is
the core of our daily activity. It is not as simple to
accomplish it as it sounds, but the dedication is
there. By keeping a close eye on the development
within the targets we believe, we will come far
along this new path”.
estonia
Mr Urmas Sule
HOPE Vice-President, Estonian Hospitals Association
Could you outline the strategy/approach
adopted in your country on quality and
patient safety or the two/three initiatives
in the hospital and healthcare sector in the
past ten years?
Estonia held its first term as the presidency of the
Council of the EU from July to December 2017
during which the priority was to enhance
cooperation on eHealth among member states
and to reduce alcohol-related harm. The overall
aim was to come to an agreement to reach
Council conclusions to tackle these subjects.
Digital solutions provide people with better
opportunities to take care of their health and help
health professionals to improve the quality of
treatment. Digital solutions allow patients to be
more involved in decision making about their
health and to make treatment more accurate and
better tailored to individual needs. Citizens must
have the right and opportunity to digitally access
their health data, as well as to allow or restrain the
safe sharing of health data for the use of various
e-services.
“We have kept developing our eHealth systems
during the last decade and we believe this has a
huge impact on healthcare, including patient safety”.
The largest eHealth project is the introduction
of the electronic health records system. This project
aims to develop a basic infrastructure for the
integration of healthcare providers’ data. The
digital images, digital registration, and digital
prescription projects use the same message
administration, authorisation, central data storage,
and other services created in the framework of the
electronic health records project.
For a long time, Estonia has been tackling
problems caused by alcohol consumption. The
Estonian government has approved s