EU collaboration on cross-border long-term care at the ILPN conference 2012

Experts from 13 European institutions with extensive experience in the field of European health policy came together in 2010 to work on the EC/FP7-funded European Union Cross-border Care Collaboration (EUCBCC) project, which runs until October 2013. Taking as a starting point the Directive on Patients’ Rights and the existing body of research on cross-border care, we looked at where necessary information is missing and sought to fill in the gaps in our knowledge of the everyday workings of health systems and whether they are mutually compatible. Our aim is to facilitate a process whereby Europe’s citizens can make informed choices about whether to seek health care in another Member State, and if they so choose, to ensure that the administrative and clinical processes are straightforward and ensure continuity of care. We also explore the challenges for those seeking and providing long-term care (LTC), particularly social care for older people, in different Member States; findings from our work on LTC are being presented in an organised session at the 2nd International Conference and Evidence-based Policy in Long-Term Care on 7 September 2012.