Calls to action suggested by DHAGE include more inclusive and accessible health services by in-house and private sector companies, while barriers to digital services identified included a lack of digital skills and connectivity.

WHY IT MATTERS

During the third DHAGE 2021 high-level meeting, held last month, decision makers in Europe identified collaborations and challenges for the future of digital healthcare policies - when accounting for the health inequailities that have been highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among these was the necessity of a healthcare policy that addresses issues of gender, age, sexual orientation and different cultures to ensure health equity for all, regardless of age or resources available.

A need for more knowledge was identified by the thought leaders, with greater understanding of the determinants of inequality and exclusion in digital health environments.

Members of the DHAGE shared that interconnectivity between international organisations was vital. This could help in sharing lessons learned and sustain successful inclusive digital health solutions created across Europe as part of an emergency response.

THE LARGER TREND

Education in professional training both pre-registration and onwards is pressing. This could be achieved via the continued professional development (CPD), continued medical education (CME) and allocated time for healthcare workers to attend, assimilate, and implement gained knowledge.

An upskilling of the workforce could assist in the rolling out and implementation of new digital tools and technology.

DHAGE called upon organisations such as the European Union, the World Health Organisation and the OECD to set up and fund an initiative for promoting digital inclusion. This would create a greater knowledge database.

Digital inclusion was seen as part of the approach when supporting the development of data spaces, cybersecurity, trust forming in healthcare, public-private partnerships, and digital skills for health professionals.

Calls to action identified were actively sharing information on the existence and possibilities of digital solutions and teaching patients during clinical visits in using them.

The challenges many countries still struggle with were in promoting the concept of data as a public good and developing common data quality assessment tools.

ON THE RECORD

“We must challenge ourselves to have an open and focused conversation on the disparities while meeting our own expectations, using digital capabilities to provide high quality healthcare to all patients,” Hal Wolf, president and CEO of HIMSS said.

“The younger population may be fluent with Tiktok and Snapchat, but struggles with government E-services”, commented Päivi Sillanaukee, ambassador for health and wellbeing, ministry of foreign affairs in Finland.

“Estonia works from the background based on life events i.e. “touch-free” automated processes that are triggered to deliver support to those who need it, when they need it. Irrespective of their digital literacy or access to mobile devices and the internet,” said Kalle Killar, deputy state secretary at ministry of social affairs, Estonia.

Access the full DHAGE Report here.