Patients have rights – Event in Heraklion for the European Charter with 14 fundamental rights

The Hellenic Patients’ Association, the 7th H.P.E. and the Medical Association of Heraklion are co-organizing, on the occasion of the European Patients’ Rights Day, an informative event today, Wednesday, at 6 pm, in the “Kastellaki” room of the Chamber of Commerce of Heraklion (Koroneio 9).

“Rights that we ignore, we don’t defend anymore and we leave unexploited for fear of any consequences. Our right to protest, to express our grievances, as well as to thank all those who helped us, is also unexploited”, said Katerina Koutsoyianni, the second vice-president of the Hellenic Patients’ Union, to Radio 98.4. For this reason also the operation of Offices for the Protection of the Rights of Health Service Recipients that are located within public hospitals and have been operating since 2016.

Update that is more relevant than ever in the midst of the dismantling of the Public Health System, understaffing and underfunding of nursing institutions, under-functioning and merging of clinics, inability to carry out “on-call” shifts for doctors to travel from hospital to hospital, huge operating lists, paid evenings surgeries etc.

With this year’s first event in Heraklion, the Hellenic Patients’ Association hopes to lay the foundations for the dissemination of the message of patients’ rights in large urban centers and common goals to the local Patient Associations, the administrators of Hospitals and Health Regions, the parliamentarians of the political parties and of course the medical and scientific community.

“The National Confederation of Patient Associations of the country, institutionalized by the State in matters of health policy making, transfers to the city of Heraklion, with the help of the 7th Ministry of Health. and the Medical Association of Heraklion, an event-institution that takes place from 2022 in Athens, with the participation of representatives of the State, the Church of Greece, members of the Hellenic and European Parliament, parties and representatives of the academic, scientific community and Society of Citizens”, noted Mrs. Katerina Koutsoyianni.

With regard to the complaints, comments, observations that citizens register in the complaints office of each hospital, these are examined by the respective deputy governors under whose responsibility they operate, and who intervene to settle any issues, as long as the complaint is named. Observations of general service content within the hospitals are again processed by them, but neither is the help of the Workers’ Unions requested to resolve any of them.

The European Charter of Patients’ Rights

The European Patients’ Rights Day was established in 2007 by the European Parliament, on the occasion of the adoption of the European Charter of Patients’ Rights, which declares 14 fundamental rights of patients, aimed at guaranteeing a “high level of human health protection” for all citizens, in accordance with Article 35 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and to ensure the high quality of services provided by national Health bodies in Europe.

The 14 rights

The 14 rights included in the Charter are as follows:

– Right to prevention: Every person has the right to enjoy the provision of appropriate services in order to prevent the occurrence of disease.

– Right of access: Every person has the right of access to the required Health services that correspond to their needs. Health services must ensure access to all without discrimination in terms of economic status, place of residence, type of illness or time of access to services.

– Right to information: All people have the right of access to any type of information regarding their health status, Health services and how to use them.

– Right to consent: All people have the right to access any kind of information, so that they can actively participate in making decisions about their health. Information should be a prerequisite for any treatment and procedure, including participation in scientific research programs.

– Right to free choice: Every person has the right to choose freely between different treatments and different specialists and Health services, after adequate information.

– Right to secrecy and confidentiality: All people have the right to remain confidential about their personal data, including those concerning their state of health and related diagnostic or therapeutic procedures, as well as the protection of the privacy of diagnostic tests , specialist visits and medical/surgical procedures in general.

– Right to respect the patient’s time: All people have the right to receive the necessary treatment in a short and predetermined period of time. This right applies to every phase of the treatment.

– Right to meet quality standards: Every person has the right to access high quality Health services, both in terms of their specialization and in terms of meeting specific standards.

– Right to safety: All people have the right to be free from harm caused by the malfunctioning of health services, medical errors and mistakes and the right to access health services and treatments that meet strict safety standards.

– Right to innovation: All people have the right to access innovative procedures, including diagnostic tests, according to international standards, regardless of economic factors.

– Right to avoid unnecessary pain and suffering: Every person has the right to avoid as much pain and suffering as possible in every phase of illness.

– Right to individualized treatment: Every person has the right to receive diagnostic or therapeutic services tailored to suit their individual needs as closely as possible.

– Right to express complaints: Every person has the right to complain whenever they have been harmed, as well as to receive an answer or other kind of information regarding their complaints.
– Right to compensation: Every person has the right to receive adequate compensation within a reasonable period of time in the event that he has suffered physical, moral or psychological damage as a result of some treatment he received in the context of the provision of health services.

The problems in PAGNI remain… In the same project, spectators, workers and patients also in Rethymno

At the same time, the Health Associations of the Regional Unit of Heraklion, through the mouth of the president in PAGNI, note that the health care situation in our prefecture is deteriorating. How resignations, “orders”, the opening and closing of ICU beds, the opening and closing of Child Psychiatry, machines that do not work due to lack of staff, intensification, owed days off and leaves are now common problems in all structures. Thus, the problem of one hospital immediately becomes the problem of the other and even multiplies.

According to him, what is required today is to put an end to the ongoing destruction of public health, because our lives do not count. We want the hospitals and all the health units of our prefecture to be fully staffed with the necessary personnel. Nothing less.”

With its announcement yesterday, the Association of Hospital Doctors notes, among other things, that the current situation of the Rethymnon Hospital continues to be critical and borderline in terms of its safe operation, as key departments of the hospital, such as the Emergency Department (ED), the Pathology Clinic, the Surgery Clinic, the Orthopedic Clinic, the Neurology, Psychiatry and Gastroenterology Departments are tragically understaffed and the on-calls are not available. He points out that the Orthopedic Clinic, after doctors’ resignations, has been left with three orthopedists in view of the summer season and patients are already waiting hours at the TEP to be seen by an orthopedist.

The Association of Hospital Doctors reports that the shortages are also huge in nurses with at least 10 vacant positions, while 28 fixed-term contract holders, security and cleaning staff, will be dismissed at the end of their contract, in order to assign these services to a contractor.

“The huge gaps in medical staff are (not) being covered by mandated over-calling of doctors and transfers of colleagues from other hospitals and by dangerous and unscientific on-call programs such as to be on duty alone by a doctor specializing in the TEP or a pediatrician by herself, who although has a TEP position, but cannot legally and scientifically take over adult cases without the supervision of a specialist”, it states, among other things, indicatively.