Medical Care from a Distance – a New European Project on Telemedicine

A unified effort in combatting inequality

The project is a so-called ‘Joint Action’ project where a number of regions in EU unite in battling inequality in cancer prevention and care across countries and borders.

The Region of Southern Denmark is selected as a representative for the five Danish regions. The Health Innovation Centre of Southern Denmark (SDSI) will be in charge of coordinating the efforts on behalf of the region. The project is supported by EU’s healthcare programme #EU4Health, established in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic to strengthen crisis response efforts in EU.

Best practice shared in remote areas

The Covid-19 pandemic boosted digital consultations with doctors and remote monitoring of patients. It enabled treatment and care without physically having to go see a doctor.

The new EU-project is going to examine how the knowledge gained from this experience can benefit the efforts on reducing inequality in cancer treatment and care across Europe.

Efforts in EU aim towards preventing and treating cancer

The project eCan is launched as part of two larger initiatives issued by the European Commission under the names “Beating Cancer Plan” (EBCP) and “Mission on Cancer” (MOC).

Together, they aim at reducing the estimated number of 3.000.000 deaths by cancer by the end of 2030. This will be made possible by prevention, early diagnosis, treatment, and by improving the quality of life for cancer patients during and after the course of treatment. The purpose of eCan is to support the objectives put forward by the EBCP and MOC initiatives to reduce inequality in cancer treatment and care for patients across different countries and borders, thereby improving the quality of life for not just cancer patients but also cancer survivors, as well as increase the number of cured cancer patients.

Four main objectives drive the eCan project:

1. Quicker and more effective response in case of rapidly spreading epidemics (such as Covid-19) and in a state of emergency where fast isolation of sick or vulnerable citizens is demanded by the nature of the crisis.
2. Better preconditions for cross-sectorial communication between cancer related authorities and treatment- and care centres in case of a health crisis or state of emergency.
3. More focus on virtual care for patients in a course of treatment, or cured patients, residing in remote areas, furthermore informing them of the contingency plans (if such have been issued).   
4. Increased communication and knowledge sharing between healthcare professionals.

The Region of Southern Denmark has been given awarded a part in the ‘Work Package 4: Sustainability’ on sustainable initiatives in eHealth for cancer patients.  

The Region of Southern Denmark represents the five Danish regions in the project and the Health Innovation Centre of Southern Denmark is coordinating the work on behalf of the region. All the participating nations and organisations are given a ‘Work Package’ that contains an objective and a list of activities, milestones and subsidiary goals hereof. Additionally, SDSI has undertaken a smaller role in ‘Work Package 8’ where we will contribute with our experience in educating and training healthcare professionals.

The objective for ‘Work Package 4’ on Sustainability is:

• To develop a plan for sustainable and applicable implementation of initiatives in eHealth aimed at cancer patients’ course of illness, based on
  • examining and identifying what eHealth initiatives currently exist
  • examining and determining whether the eHealth initiatives currently existing to support cancer patients are relevant and sufficient (case study: Covid-19), and
  • developing a plan for improving and expanding the use of eHealth in cancer patients’ courses of treatment (on the basis of the insights gained through the project’s ‘Joint Action’

Facts

The project has been named eCan, abbreviated from “Strengthening eHealth Including Telemedicine and Remote Monitoring for Health Care Systems for CANcer prevention and Care”.

The project is initiated and financed through the European Commission. Approx. 428.000kr (nearly 58.000 euros) of the project’s budget have been earmarked for the Region of Southern Denmark.

The project will run from September 15th 2022 – September 14th 2024 (24 months).