copenhagen nieuw 350 okIn 2010, the HOPE Exchange Programme was concluded in Copenhagen on 14-16 June. The Exchange Programme as well as the final conference were looking at “The Chronic Patient: a Clinical and Managerial Challenge“.

The two-day event, organised by the Danish regions, gathered around 300 participants: national and local coordinators, HOPE members, guests and the HOPE Exchange participants, which had the opportunity to discuss and exchange their knowledge about the central topic of the programme.

The conference, held during the first day and chaired by Jes Søgaard, Director of Danish Institute for Health Services Research, aimed at exploring the complex issue of chronic diseases. The topic was addressed from system, local and patient perspectives. The discussion was opened by Isabelle Durand-Zaleski, professor of medicine and head of the department of public health at the Paris Recherche Clinique Santé Publique, Hôpital Henri Mondor. She addressed the issue of chronic conditions from a very international perspective and illustrated how European and non-European countries with different structures and different cultures, are responding to this challenge.

Torben Palshof, DMSci, consultant Aarhus University Hospital, illustrated from an organisational, clinical and users’ perspective how the Danish regions have been able, in the last 20 years, to tackle the burden of chronic conditions, coordinating efforts within the entire healthcare system; his presentation was reinforced by Henning Beck-Nielsen, DMSci, professor, administrative consultant Odense University Hospital, which examined the concept of shared-cared through the concrete example of diabetes treatment in Denmark.

The patients’ perspective and the importance of their behaviour and their understanding of the disease was addressed in two presentations, by Lone Grøn – PhD, project manager, anthropologist Danish Institute for Health Services Research – and Anne Dichmann Sorknæs, Research nurse, Sygehus Fyn. The latest speaker in particular illustrated how telemedicine could easily enter in patients’ routine, simplifying their life and their approach to chronic illnesses.

The importance of Disease Management Programmes (DMPs) in a context of chronic patient was examined by Anne Frølich, Senior Consultant, MD, Bispebjerg Hospital, who highlighted barriers and facilitators to the introduction of DMPs from a national, European and international perspective.

Finally, Richard Alvarez, CEO of Canada Health Infoway, offered a comprehensive presentation of the way in which e-health and IT solutions support the treatment of chronically ill patients and can be deployed, highlighting the need to move from a provider-centric to a patient-centric perspective both in the offer of care and in the information collection: this helps to better address the problem of co-morbidities and to better manage and control risk factors and chronic disease, always ensuring and guaranteeing patients’ privacy and data-protection.

Download here the HOPE report on “The Chronic Patient: a Clinical and Managerial Challenge”