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Úsáidimid do shíniú suas chun ábhar a sholáthar ar bhealaí ar thoiligh tú leo agus chun ár dtuiscint ortsa a fheabhsú. Is féidir leat díliostáil ag am ar bith.

hc-blogDe réir Chomhghuaillíocht Eorpach do Leigheas phearsantaithe (EAPM) Stiúrthóir Feidhmiúcháin Denis Horgan

The dust is settling on a largely unforeseen election result in the UK that gives the Conservatives a slender majority and decimates former coalition partners the Liberal Democrats. UKIP received a healthy slice of the vote, but unlike the SNP which now dominates Scotland with 56 from 59 seats, they (re)acquired only one seat at Westminster.  Labour, which the pollsters had as virtually neck-and-neck with the Tories mere hours before the polling booths opened, saw its vote collapse north of the border and, as it failed to win most of the seats it had targeted elsewhere in the UK, the party trailed in a distant second. 

Labour’s leader Ed Milliband duly fell on his sword, as did the Lib Dems’ Nick Clegg and UKIP’s Nigel Farage, who had pledged to resign if he failed to win in Thanet. Meanwhile, Conservative leader David Cameron was once again asked by the Queen to form a government and, this time, he’s been able to do so without the usual horse-trading that accompanies putting together a workable coalition.

While Farage has gone, if you’d asked him ten years ago what his main aim was for his party and its supporters, he would have said “an in-out referendum on membership of the European Union”. After a series of excellent results in the European Parliament and a groundswell of support in Britain, the possibility of a sizeable presence at Westminster only emerged relatively recently. Although the party may have only one seat, UKIP’s surge had forced Cameron’s hand and Farage will duly have his referendum in 2017. What happens there remains to be seen.

And, doubtless, a generally pro-EU Scotland will be watching closely as the irony of its decision to stay part of the UK slowly unfolds. If the UK leaves the EU, the chances of a speedy second referendum north of the border will multiply. And if the UK leaves, those in the European Commission previously making discouraging noises regarding an independent Scotland joining the EU may start working on speeches that offer a warm welcome.

For now, of course, the UK remains a member state and whatever the hue of the government of the day, whether in Britain or in any other EU country, the challenges in the health arena remain the same.   In Britain, the past five years have seen changes to the National Health Service (NHS) and more are now on the way, with private companies such as Virgin becoming increasingly involved in health care, not least in the field of cancer.

Dark mutterings about the dismantling of the NHS rumble on and yet, one way or another, the Conservatives have to tackle the issue of a population that is living longer, that needs to work for more years due to a pension trough, and one that will see individuals, in many cases, suffering from not just one but two-or-three diseases due to their advancing age.

Aiseolas

The Brussels-based European Alliance for Personalised Medicine (EAPM) is firmly of the belief that, in the UK and elsewhere, the integration of this exciting new form of treatment, based largely on the use and application of the genetic sciences, offers the best chance of giving the right treatment to the right patient at the right time.  This will enhance the quality of life of a patient (and in many cases save it), keep him or her out of expensive hospitals and surgeries, and extend the ability of a citizen to work and, therefore, contribute to the economy.  EAPM maintains that, following the clear failure of a one-size-fits-all mentality in which doctors treat by population averages rather than by the individual (including his or her lifestyle choices), the personalised medicine approach is the only realistic way forward.

Nobody claims that this will be easy to bring about. For example, there is only so much that the EU can do given that individual Member States have competency for their own healthcare systems. Therefore, individual countries must play a major part at national level and it is clear that there is a need for much more cross-border collaboration in several areas.  These include, but are not exclusive to, the gathering, storage and sharing of Big Data, the running of effective clinical trials in rare diseases (with, by definition, smaller groups in each country), education of health-care professionals (HCPs) in the emerging treatments available, investment in research and much more co-operation between different disciplines, within and between member states, in order to encourage innovation and decrease duplication.

Of course, the EU is already involved heavily many of these issues through its IMI programmes, as well as Horizon 2020 and its data-driven economy strategy, but encouraging the proper implementation of its cross-border health directive and formulating a plan for the pan-European education of HCPs would represent great steps forward.  The UK may or may not leave the European Union and, even if it does, the health burden there and in the other Member States will continue to increase.

And while, as mentioned above, each nation has a major part to play, EAPM believes that despite its lack of competence over individual healthcare systems, the European Commission (in tandem with the European Parliament) must, through argument, persuasion and – crucially – formulating up-to-date, workable and ‘smart’ legislation, create an environment in which personalised medicine can flourish in every member state, regardless of its size, wealth or, indeed, political colour.  Only then will the EU’s 500 million potential patients start to see equality when it comes to receiving the best treatment available. And surely that’s something worth voting for.

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