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Description
icipation in the healthcare decision making to reflect real patient needs and preferences in the public policy and to strengthen cooperation between citizens and governmental institutions. Research proves that active patient engagement in the healthcare and social care systems contributes to substantially better treatment outcomes, including reduced waiting times and reduced number of patients with chronic diseases. In Lithuania patient involvement throughout their treatment journey remains low, also attention is lacking to improve patients’ education and their health literacy. In the meantime, one of the strategic priorities of the Lithuanian Government is to “improve citizens social well-being and inclusion, promote health”, aiming to improve the number of patients who were actively included in their treatment decisions by 300 percent by the year 2030. The target groups within the project are 1) patients who will be involved in volunteering activities; 2) patients who will be educated and encouraged to participate in policymaking in the fields of health care and social security; 3) public administration institutions. Throughout the project we will initiate and implement a volunteer based mentoring program, implement systematic awareness-raising measures for the patient community, develop a patient- 2 centred training program, organize training, conduct patient surveys using digital tools, and thus provide patients with an opportunity to express public opinion, based on which we will submit proposals to competent institutions and bodies. Project activities and their results will empower patients to become partners in their healthcare delivery, will improve their participation in the civil society and will help public institutions to acknowledge problems faced by patients in the healthcare and social care systems, by listening to lived patient experience, expectations, and suggestions, thus improving the quality and effectiveness of public decision making.
Summary of project results
Project “Patients acting for patients” aimed to improve patient health literacy and promotion of participation in the healthcare decision making to reflect real patient needs and preferences in the public policy and to strengthen cooperation between citizens and governmental institutions.
Research proves that active patient engagement in the healthcare and social care systems contributes to substantially better treatment outcomes, including reduced waiting times and reduced number of patients with chronic diseases. In Lithuania patient involvement throughout their treatment journey remains low, also attention is lacking to improve patients’ education and their health literacy. In the meantime, one of the strategic priorities of the Lithuanian Government is to “improve citizens social well-being and inclusion, promote health”, aiming to improve the number of patients who were actively included in their treatment decisions by 300 percent by the year 2030.
The target groups within the project were 1) patients who were involved in volunteering activities; 2) patients who were educated and encouraged to participate in policymaking in the fields of health care and social security; 3) public administration institutions.
Throughout the project POLA initiated and implemented a volunteer based mentoring program, implemented systematic awareness-raising measures for the patient community, developed a patient-centred training program, organized training, conducted patient surveys using digital tools, and thus provided patients with an opportunity to express public opinion, based on which later submited proposals to competent institutions and bodies.
Project activities and their results empowered patients to become partners in their healthcare delivery, improved their participation in the civil society and helped public institutions to acknowledge problems faced by patients in the healthcare and social care systems, by listening to lived patient experience, expectations, and suggestions, thus improving the quality and effectiveness of public decision making.