European Critical Care Foundation

ECCF’s work is grounded in rigorous scientific and academic research. Each project is anchored by individuals or institutions with in-depth knowledge of the interface between the medical issue at hand and the non-medical factors influencing outcomes. These include University College London, Aarhus University Hospital Denmark, and Imperial College London, as well as think-tanks such as the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.

ECCF works in close collaboration with patient and professional organisations to raise awareness on delivery of critical care and ensuring optimal outcomes. These include the Stent for Life Initiative and the European Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants, whose networks and activities in EU Member States complement ECCF’s main focus on EU institutions and the Brussels health policy community.

None declared

Jan 2014 - Dec 2014

9,999€

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The main focus of 2014 activities was on improving access to best therapy for acute heart attack patients:

ECCF published a survey of ten European countries, examining the current extent of mobility of acute heart attack patients and identify the main barriers in selected cross-border settings. The survey revealed a surprising absence of collaborative agreements and lack of implementation of existing bilateral agreements for this critical condition.
Disseminating the findings to more than 500 policymakers, healthcare professionals, industry and patient groups, ECCF called on all stakeholders to support the development of bi-lateral agreements and protocols designed to share best practices and raise standards to the level of the best performing Member States, in order to make timely access to best treatment for acute heart attack patients a reality, wherever they are located across Europe.
ECCF’s chairman, Professor John Martin, made the case for cross border access to primary angioplasty in a brief video (Heartlands) in collaboration with the European Commission.
Building on earlier initiatives to establish STEMI networks across borders between Italy, Slovenia and Croatia, ECCF held a high level, multi-stakeholder workshop in Trieste in October, hosted by the Friuli Venezia Giulia region in Italy, with the objective of achieving full collaboration across these borders.
ECCF was invited to participate as a keynote speaker to an event sponsored by the Italian Presidency on cross-border health cooperation which took place in Q4 2014.
ECCF presented the findings of the survey at a number of events, including alliance partner Stent for Life Initiative’s annual meeting in Prague, at EuroPCR, and the annual interventional cardiology congress in Paris.
At the invitation of DG SANCO Deputy Director Martin Seychell, ECCF provided a briefing document outlining the case for optimal treatment of acute myocardial infarction as a prerequisite for reducing the human and economic burden of heart failure in Europe.

In a related initiative, ECCF supported the Written Declaration on improving early diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases among women, initiated by MEP Mrs Danuta Jazlowiecka. Lack of awareness among women and healthcare professionals about CVD symptoms and risk factors is believed to be a major reason for inequities and inequalities in cardiovascular disease outcomes in women.

ECCF also continued its work looking at factors influencing decision-making on behalf of extremely premature infants:
ECCF published an article in the peer-reviewed Archives of Disease in Childhood. The paper was the result of an earlier, multi-stakeholder meeting that identified differences in neonatal decision-making guidelines, as a significant factor contributing to unequal and inequitable outcomes for pre-term infants across Europe.
ECCF identified a real need to improve the communication and support that parents receive during their time in the NICU as well as recognising that management practices need to better support the healthcare professionals themselves. See our video, Outcomes in the Eye of the Beholder about this work.

The main channel for feeding these recommendations into EU policy discussions was through the public consultation process initiated by the European Commission, on the Preliminary Opinion on a possible EU agenda on the Quality of Healthcare in September 2014. ECCF also contributed to the Chronic Disease Reflection Process earlier in the year.

In 2015 ECCF held it's first Critical Care Day, bringing a variety of topics at the 'critical' end of the care continuum to the attention of policymakers and other stakeholders.

A key area for activity in 2016 is the Integrated Care Working Group of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing, where ECCF will promote the role of optimal treatment and care at a pont in time when it can make a real difference to patient outcomes.

None declared

1 meetings found. Download meetings

The list below only covers meetings held since November 2014 with commissioners, their cabinet members or directors-general at the European Commission; other lobby meetings with lower-level staff may have taken place, but the European Commission doesn't proactively publish information about these meetings. For more information about which commissioner is responsible for which portfolio, check out this link: https://commissioners.ec.europa.eu/index_en All information below comes from European Commission web pages.

• Date	25 Apr 2016	Location	Brussels
  Subject	Cooperation in the area of acute care
  Cabinet	Cabinet of Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis
  Portfolio	Health & Food Safety
  Attending	Annika Nowak (Cabinet member)
  Other Lobbyists	European Patients' Forum (EPF)