When Europe connects the dots – POLITICO

Leon Davis was jogging when he suddenly felt pain in his chest. Concerned, he arrived at the hospital looking for help and answers. He felt a great sense of relief when his clinician discovered what was wrong and suggested a solution. Also, with the help of his wearable monitor, doctors now have 24-hour access to valuable data on him, bringing valuable peace of mind to Leon.

Leon shares his experiences in the second edition of Connecting The Dots, produced by BBC StoryWorks. This video series, commissioned by MedTech Europe, brings us into the real lives of patients and healthcare professionals in Europe and abroad.

If you’ve ever wondered what truly modern medicine looks like in the real world, look no further. See how a customized combination of diagnostics, monitoring systems, and surgical instruments helped Leon get back on his feet.

pivotal moment

Leon was living a healthy and busy life, but suddenly remembered the possibility of his own death. He could be any of us at any time.

But Leon’s story is also the story of consultant cardiologist Dr Sadia Khan. She makes it abundantly clear that innovative tools not only improve outcomes for patients, but also the experience for healthcare professionals. In a world where it is increasingly difficult to recruit and retain skilled personnel to meet growing care needs, it is essential to support healthcare professionals to provide efficient care.

This is a pivotal moment for the EU. After delivering ground-breaking reforms that changed the landscape of healthcare and innovation, European decision-makers can now harness the power of technology to transform healthcare systems for the better.At the same time, the next five-year political cycle could strengthen Europe’s competitiveness and create jobs.

Specific solutions for Europe

Those who ask policymakers for change have a responsibility to propose solutions. Therefore, MedTech Europe Manifesto 2024-2029 comes in. Empowering patients and inspiring innovationsets out a four-part vision for health care in Europe and provides concrete proposals on how to make it a reality.

First, the future must be patient-centric.Look at the connect the dots In the series, you’ll be amazed at how patients describe their experiences of feeling heard when clinicians and technology meet real-world needs. Whether it’s a more convenient self-examination for cervical cancer or non-invasive ultrasound treatment for tremors, patients come first.

Technology can help, whether it’s speeding up your recovery time, making hospital visits easier, or even helping you get a better night’s sleep.

To support the next wave of innovation and ensure patient access to technology, Europe needs to make its current CE marking system more efficient and predictable. By adopting better regulatory principles, we can create a streamlined system with less duplication and conflict between laws.

digital future

Second, you can’t watch these videos without knowing the power of digital health and health data. Thanks to remote monitoring, seniors like Sarah can live safely and happily in their own homes. Smartphone apps support diabetic patients. And real-world data makes the study more representative of the population. We live in a connected world and healthcare needs to be at the forefront of digital transformation.

To achieve this quickly and for everyone, the EU and Member States need to promote interoperability of digital health services and modernize financing mechanisms for digital health procurement. And with the arrival of AI-enabled tools on the horizon, the EU needs to be a leader in regulating this rapidly changing field while delivering these technologies to patients. In short, we need a true single market for digital health to bring innovation back to Europe.

resilience and sustainability

As we look to the future, we must ensure our health systems have the resilience needed to meet future challenges. These challenges will include demographic changes, rising rates of chronic diseases such as cancer, health care workforce shortages, and all the surprises that the future may have in store.

From telemedicine to robotic surgery, medical technology can reduce the physical strain on healthcare professionals and increase job satisfaction.

And in the face of the pressing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), emerging technologies can help prevent, detect, and manage the spread of today’s infectious diseases without the use of antibiotics. As Professor Karen Augie from the University of Huddersfield explains, this supports the responsible use of vital medicines without compromising patient care. Some patients are like Lucy, a mother of three who developed a wound infection after having a C-section.

These tools should be deployed without delay. At the same time, Europe’s ability to manufacture these products should be protected by increasing the EU’s autonomy in accessing supplies of critical materials and components. The medical technology sector itself is a component of a resilient health system. We call for effective measures to protect health care from distortions in international trade that put our industry at risk.

Finally, we should not discuss the future without considering sustainability. We believe that green and digital challenges have transformative potential and that there is overlap between digital efficiency and greener healthcare.

Collaboration and partnership across the system can improve the social, environmental, and economic performance of health care. The dialogue allows manufacturers to advance the transition to sustainable ways of working without disrupting access to critical technologies.

There is much to look forward to as we move into the future together. As the Connecting the Dots series shows, from babies in neonatal care to teenagers in their teens, Europeans are living healthier lives supported by innovative technology. Masu. The challenge ahead is to ensure that Europe is a place where innovation happens and reaches the people who need it.