The summit saw 130 patient advocacy groups from 22 countries gathered to discuss how healthcare digital technologies can help strengthen the patients’ voice and revolutionise healthcare. EPIS 2017 featured an innovative multisite format, with hubs in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Russia and Spain – all contributing to the summit – with the Central Hub in Dublin. The Summit was also livestreamed all over Europe.
Using the latest digital technologies, the one day Summit brought together patient organisations representing chronic disease communities at both a national and European level. EPIS 2017 comprised a mixture of forward-thinking presentations and a panel discussion livestreamed to all sites, with breakout sessions in each of the hubs. Participants took part in an ‘ideathon’ – a sprintlike event that taps into different skills and expertise to help identify solutions that will facilitate meaningful patient input across the medicines lifecycle. The ideas were assessed by an independent jury and then voted on by all participants – Portugal were the winners.
The summit was opened by Neil Johnson, Chief Executive of Croi, the Heart & Stroke Charity, “We were delighted to host this important summit in Dublin. Innovative digital technologies help empower patients by giving them greater access and control over their care journey – things like wearables and portable diagnostic tools are being used more and more by patients and their carer’s,particularly in the areas of heart health and diabetes management. For this reason, it is vital that Irish and international patient groups can come together to share the latest innovations and to brainstorm on how these can help patients with their healthcare decisions”.
“The European Patient Innovation Summit is an exciting event as it shows us how patients are embracing new digital technologies”, commented Loretto Callaghan, Managing Director, Novartis Ireland. “Novartis is committed to supporting initiatives that help strengthen the patient voice and we are looking forward to a highly engaging and informative event that provides a platform forpatient groups to network and discuss a key issue confronting them”.
