Malta gets low ranking in Empowerment of Patients report

Malta has been ranked in 23rd out of 31 positions in a report entitled "Empowerment of the European Patient - Options and Implications," published in Brussels today.

The report groups 18 indicators of empowerment into four categories: Patients’ rights, Information,
Health Technology Assessment (HTA) and Financial incentives.

Denmark ranked first followed by Germany, Finland and Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Hungary and Norway and Slovenia.

The report states that in the top-ranked countries, policy makers seemed to have realised that the healthcare system was for patients and did not only serve to guarantee a healthy workforce able to pay taxes and do its duty. Good healthcare was dependent on the active participation of the patients. These systems worked to involve patients offering financial incentives, power over information and patient rights leading to active choices.

It proposed to Malta and other countries which fell behind in ranking to provide better user information as this was the initial step towards patient empowerment.

The first issue, it said, was fostering patient literacy. Other tools were also essential when allowing patients to become participants in care. Opening the Health Technology Assessment procedures for patient review proved to be important, it said.

The report's specific recommendation to Malta is for the country to adopt a proper patient rights law as soon as possible to ensure access to second opinion and own medical record.

The only countries to place behind Malta are Spain, Poland, Croatia,Latvia, Macedonia, Portugal, Romania and Bulgaria.