Health care information need not just be available in order to be effective.  It also has to be located and understood. But there is a deficit in that regard, according to a pilot study on the topic of      healthcare literacy presented at the European Health Forum Gastein.  A new EU-wide healthcare literacy network should provide for the information flow among all relevant research facilities, media and political decision bodies.  

For four days, 580 participants from 58 countries discussed issues of core importance to the future of Europe’s healthcare systems.  Medical science should not be oriented exclusively toward what is technically doable, cautioned EHFG President Leiner at the closing of this year’s European Health Forum Gastein. For European healthcare systems to be fit for the future, a stronger EU competence in healthcare questions is needed.

Health as a job creator: Health professions make up one of the largest segments in the overall European labor market, accounting for ten percent of the total workforce. The EU Commission calculates dramatic shortages in health care provision in the next decade unless countermeasures are taken now. Experts at the European Health Forum Gastein discussed how health jobs can be made more attractive.

The PU Europe general assembly of 8th October elected Paul Werbrouck as new association president with a two-year mandate. Mr Werbrouck, aged 62, is a Belgian civil engineer and has worked in the insulation industry since 1974. He is currently Group General Manager Insulation at Recticel nv/sa (Belgium).

Globalization is also posing a host of challenges to healthcare systems. Unequal distribution of health resources, the rapid spread of pathogens, global patient tourism, and a medical brain drain are among the major ones. Experts at the European Health Forum Gastein called on Europe to exercise stronger leadership in global health.