Medtech Europe says Parliament report avoids safety issue

Industry body, MedTech Europe, believe the new adopted healthcare report released by the European Parliament still avoids calls for improved monitoring of patient safety at a national level.

The report is particularly relevant to the wound care community, as incidences of pressure ulcers and surgical site infections still occur in healthcare facilities.

Safety in wound care is especially important as appropriate treatment can help prevent the development or prolongation of a wound as well as infection or amputation.

While the report recognises at a global level appropriate care and treatment can deliver improved efficiency, at a national level the focus remains on cost.

Writing for Medtech, Paul Trueman, Chair of Eucomed recognised healthcare decision makers who are driven by austerity measures and increasing demands look for cost savings in the acquisition of medical supplies.

This issue, Trueman highlighted, is worsened by the absence of accurate, routinely collected data on patient safety events across many EU health systems.

The absence of data means it is impossible to estimate the scale of the problem and any improvement might result from investment in advanced therapies.

The report does however provide the opportunity for those working towards implementing better wound care treatments for patients to discuss issues with local politicians.

These issues include discussing why calls for multidisciplinary approaches, better data collection and appropriate training of healthcare professionals remain lacklustre.  

Although the EU is recognising that proper diagnosis and treatment of wounds would result in efficiency gains and cost savings to health systems, the work of MEP’s will be lost until wound care is part of national patient safety programmes.