People have always travelled within Europe for work and leisure, although never before with the current intensity. Now, however, they are travelling for many other reasons, including the quest for key services such as health care. Whatever the reason for travelling, one question they ask is "If I fall ill, will the health care I receive be of a high standard?" This book examines, for the first time, the systems that have been put in place in all of the European Union's 27 Member States. The picture it paints is mixed. Some have well developed systems, setting standards based on the best available evidence, monitoring the care provided, and taking action where it falls short. Others need to overcome significant obstacles.

This volume, developed by the Observatory together with OECD, provides an overall conceptual framework for understanding and applying strategies aimed at improving quality of care. Crucially, it summarizes available evidence on different quality strategies and provides recommendations for their implementation. This book is intended to help policy-makers to understand concepts of quality and to support them to evaluate single strategies and combinations of strategies.

Health at a Glance: Europe 2018 presents comparative analyses of the health status of EU citizens and the performance of the health systems of the 28 EU Member States, 5 candidate countries and 3 EFTA countries.

While there may be consensus on the broader issues of the core objectives of the health care system, expectations differ between EU countries, and European national policy-makers. This book seeks firstly to assess the impact of the enlargement process and then to analyse the challenges that lie ahead in the field of health and health policy.

How are public health services in Europe organized and financed? With European health systems facing a plethora of challenges that can be addressed through public health interventions there is renewed interest in strengthening public health services. Yet there are enormous gaps in our knowledge. How many people work in public health? How much money is spent on public health? What does it actually achieve? None of these questions can be answered easily. This volume brings together current knowledge on the organization and financing of public health services in Europe. It is based on country reports on the organization and financing of public health services in nine European countries and an in-depth analysis of the involvement of public health services in addressing three contemporary public health challenges (alcohol obesity and antimicrobial resistance). The focus is on four core dimensions of public health services: organization financing the public health workforce and quality assurance. The questions the volume seeks to answer are: o How are public health services in Europe organized? Are there good practices that can be emulated? What policy options are available? o How much is spent on public health services? Where do resources come from? And what was the impact of the economic crisis? o What do we know about the public health workforce? How can it be strengthened? o How is the quality of public health services being assured? What should quality assurance systems for public health services look like? This study is the result of close collaboration between the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and the WHO Regional Office for Europe Division of Health Systems and Public Health. It accompanies two other Observatory publications: Organization and financing of public health services in Europe: country reports and The role of public health organizations in addressing public health problems in Europe: the case of obesity alcohol and antimicrobial resistance.

This third edition of Health at a Glance: Europe presents a set of key indicators related to health status, determinants of health, health care resources and activities, quality of care, access to care, and health expenditure and financing in 35 European countries.

This report addresses the concepts and controversy surrounding health technology assessment in Europe, with a particular focus on selected Member States including Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. It is intended to identify and address current considerations regarding HTA methodological and process issues related to the prioritization and financing of modern health care. In particular, it describes the processes and challenges for identifying and prioritizing assessments; assesses and compares current assessment methods and procedures; and highlights the barriers to effective implementation. The report also ascertains the roles and terms of engagement of key stakeholders, and captures the opportunities and challenges for the use of HTA guidance in general priority-setting, decision-making and health-care provision.

Equity and Excellence : Liberating the NHS: Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Health by Command of Her Majesty

This book is an attempt to inform the debate that is already taking place between Europe's policy-makers, looking at a series of case studies that illustrate the different aspects of patient mobility within the European Union and how Europe's health systems have responded to them. Most of the case studies presented in this book have been analysed within a project funded by the European Union's Sixth Framework Programme - Europe for Patients (e4p).