Congress report - European Health Forum Gastein

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European Health Forum Gastein 2001
The Movement has always adopted three procedures for collecting funds - public funding (at
local, regional, national, and community level), private funding (partnerships with private
enterprises for specific programmes) and donations and contributions from the general
public.
networks
The Movement since its foundation has always adopted networks to ensure that individuals
or organizations join forces. The Movement could be best described as a “network of
networks”.
The main networks operating at the national level are as follows:
• The Tribunal for the Rights of the Patients;
• The Chronically Ill Associations Coalition;
• The Citizens’ Advocates;
• Justice for Rights Coordination;
• The School for Active Citizenship;
• A network of employees applying good practices in public services and public
administration.
Except the network there are other important fields of commitment. One of these is the
programme on Corporate Citizenship that aims to support and distribute information
regarding the renewal of social responsibility in private Italian and European enterprises. In
June 2000, a “Manifesto of Corporate Citizenship” was prepared and distributed by a group
of the Movement’s partners, while a project to research and design ways of labelling
corporate citizenship in the four south-European countries and Great Britain - sponsored by
the European Commission - is currently underway.
tribunal for the rights of the patients
The Tribunal for the Rights of the Patients is an initiative that began in 1980 to protect the
health and welfare rights of citizens and to help achieve a more humane and functional
health service. The Tribunal is comprised of ordinary citizens, workers from the sector and
professionals who provide their services on a voluntary basis. It involves local units
throughout Italy and over 10,000 citizens working in hospitals and territorial services, a
central structure to co-ordinate the network activities. The ongoing programmes and
campaigns implemented by the Tribunal for Patients’ Rights include the following:
• The “Safe Hospital Campaign”;
• A programme for good practices in the health sector, for which the “Andrea Alesini
Award” is given;
• An experimental project to reduce waiting lists;
• A programme on safety and quality in medical practices;
• A project on the “surgical path and citizens’ rights”;
• A campaign on pain therapy;
• A campaign to sponsor generic drugs;
• An oncology campaign following the so-called “Di Bella” case;
• A campaign for compensation for damages through the transfusions of infected
blood;
• Experimental implementation of a network for “PIT” services at the local level.
The Tribunal for Patients’ Rights is linked to the Chronically Ill Associations Coalition, which
has around one hundred member Federations and Associations for patients suffering chronic
diseases. The Coalition aims to intensify action implemented by each individual Organization
through a common policy for all chronically ill patients and thereby receives greater attention
International Forum Gastein, Tauernplatz 1, A-5630 Bad Hofgastein
Tel.: +43 (6432) 7110-70, Fax: Ext. 71, e-mail: info@ehfg.org, website: www.ehfg.org