The city of Ioannina in north-western Greece has concluded the first important steps towards establishing a pilot model of service integration to better meet the needs of its people. After last year’s initial discussions facilitated by WHO, 4 new primary health care units have been established and now local authorities have moved on to preparing the ground for integrated care by building the capacity of stakeholders.
WHO/Europe and the Greek Ministry of Health organized a 2-day workshop on 15–16 October and 2 more days of discussions with participants – including key local and regional stakeholders in the health and social care services; representatives from the Ministry of Health, the Regional Health Authority, the Regional Administrative Authority, the Municipality of Ioannina, the University of Ioannina, hospital administrations and patient associations; and primary health and social care professionals.
The objectives of the workshop were:
- to identify existing and future barriers to the piloting and scaling-up of an integrated model of services delivery at community level;
- to strengthen collaboration with and build capacity among local actors in the integration of services;
- to train stakeholders in the principles, methods and best practices of integrated services;
- to formulate a sustainable model of integrated services, suitable to local needs;
- to identify potential leaders to initiate, supervise and monitor the network of integrated services.
“The development of the TOMYs (local primary health care units) demands systems that talk to each other,” said services integration expert David Kelly. He went on to ask: “How can we work better together, to improve care?” The Director of the Regional Health Authority, Dr Takis Nikolopoulos, answered: “We need to reach out to those who do not have access to care”.
After the workshop, detailed discussions among a smaller group of key players took place, resulting in a draft action plan and coordination mechanism based on the main findings of the workshop. The proposal was presented to the local authorities responsible for its adoption and implementation, and overall consensus was achieved over the main principles and further steps.
Background
The events in Ioannina were conducted under the Strengthening Capacity for Universal Coverage, Phase 2 (SCUC2) action.
The SCUC2 action is carried out with funding from the European Union through a grant agreement between the European Commission and WHO/Europe. Its general objective is to contribute to improving health and health equity in Greece, especially among the most vulnerable in the crisis-stricken population, by helping Greek authorities move towards universal health coverage and strengthening the effectiveness, efficiency and resilience of their health system.