Community pharmacists supporting healthcare systems - Lessons learned through the COVID-19 crisis

The ECHAlliance was participating this Wednesday 27 October, 14.00 CEST in the panel: Digital Health, during PGEU ANNUAL CONFERENCE, where Carina Dantas as one of the invited speakers to discuss the specific impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the provision of digital health services across Europe.

The aim of the session was to explore key trends and developments in relation to the expansion of digital health in community pharmacies whilst discussing the added value of these services and tools for patients and healthcare systems. 

Questions such as “how do we ensure equal opportunities for vulnerable patients who have limited digital literacy or access to digital means”? or “What can we do from a European perspective to address the digital skills gap for some healthcare professionals?” were debated and the keywords to retain were, without any doubt: trust, transparency and equal access are key to promote citizens and professionals empowerment and participation in the digital transformation.

Moderator: Mathias Arnold, PGEU Vice-President

Introductory words: Jesus Maria Aguilar, President, Spanish Consejo General de Colegios Oficiales de Farmacéuticos: a look back on digital services during the pandemic

Panellists:

• Petra Wilson, Managing Director and CEO, Health Connect Partners 
• Guillaume Byk, European Reference Networks and Digital Health, DG SANTE, European Commission 
• Laura Létourneau, Director of the French Ministerial Task-Force for Digital Health (DNS) 
• Risto Kanerva, President, The Association of Finnish Pharmacies (AFP) 
• Carina Dantas, Senior International Project Manager, ECHAlliance 

The Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU) is the association representing Europe’s community pharmacists. PGEU members are the national associations and professional bodies of community pharmacists in 32 European countries including EU Member States, EU candidate countries and EFTA members.

The Symposium is part of the annual meeting for PGEU members to exchange views with policy makers, academics and other stakeholders on key issues for the pharmacy profession.