The first meeting of the Network Coordination of Breast Cancer Centers, on the proposal of the Director General Kyriakoula Petropulacos, reiterated the importance of the government and monitoring of territorial and hospital care for breast cancer in order to continue to guarantee in the Emilia- Romagna safe and quality treatments in already proven and highly qualified organizations.
The Working Group includes, in addition to the professionals of the Regional Management, the heads of the 12 Breast Health Centers, some experts in the sector and, for the first time, the representatives of two regional associations of the Europa Donna Italia network and a national representative.
The Working Group has been assigned various objectives: to monitor the performance of the regional network of Breast Health Centers with particular attention to the needs of patients; support the General Management regarding the implementation of activities relating to the prevention and treatment of breast cancer; guarantee the governance of the network of Breast Health Centers; evaluate and monitor the care pathway, defining the initiatives for its improvement. The Working Group will remain in office until 31 December 2023 and will initially meet at least quarterly.
Within the Group, issues relating to the therapeutic needs of patients will be addressed, which will be assessed on a scientific, organizational and care level, but which will have the representatives of the voluntary associations as attentive and qualified interlocutors who will make available to the team the direct experiences of the patients at the centers whose performance in terms of quality of services will be analyzed.
For the first time, the associations are called to be an integral part of a Regional Working Group dedicated exclusively to breast care, and we believe that this is an important first step towards actively listening to patient spokespersons, according to the best international advocacy practices. A sign that good Italian healthcare assigns significant importance to the active participation of the representatives of patient associations.
“This is the first time ever that we have a dedicated breast work group with clinicians, regional authorities and patient associations. We hope it is a good example of comparison to guarantee all services for patients and women. An example of an action plan that can be adopted throughout Italy, according to what is already happening abroad in which the patient association is always highly regarded “he declares Rosanna D’Antona.
“From today, to ensure a better and effective patient care, we will make use of the first-person contribution of the patients, through their representatives, and thus we will be able to fill some gaps for specific needs and promote a concrete dialogue with the patient communities. . I hope that from this new phase of dialogue and comparison there may be a further stimulus to fruitful collaboration for the common good of all women affected by this oncological pathology “adds the Councilor for health policies in Emilia-Romagna, Raffaele Donini.