New eLearning course – Communications for Patient Advocacy

New eLearning course – Communications for Patient Advocacy

The European Federation of Neurological Associations (EFNA) has launched a new eLearning course on Communications for Patient Advocacy.

The series is divided into three modules – Communicating with impact, Communicating persuasively and Presentation skills for public speaking.

The course is the latest in EFNA’s Training Initiatives for Neurology Advocates programme. It is free, though registration is required. It is available in English, but subtitles in other languages can be enabled.

Learn more and register at www.efna.net/elearning

Essentials of Stroke Care Guide available to help improve stroke care

Essentials of Stroke Care Guide available to help improve stroke care

The Essentials of Stroke Care guide is for healthcare professionals to support them improve stroke treatment and care and to help implement the Stroke Action Plan for Europe.

It contains an overview of evidence-based interventions and the minimum standards of care a stroke survivor should expect through their entire chain of care including the pre-hospital, acute hospital stay, rehabilitation and life after stroke.

Listen to Professor Thorsten, from the European Stroke Organisation, talk about why he created this guide as part of the Stroke Action Plan for Europe, read the Essentials of Stroke Care or find out more about the Stroke Action Plan for Europe

SAFE welcomes the publication of the EU Healthier Together plan

SAFE welcomes the publication of the EU Healthier Together plan

The European Commission recently launched the EU Non-Communicable Diseases Initiative – Healthier Together to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCD), including stroke, and improve health and wellbeing.

From December 2021 to May 2022, SAFE and the European Stroke Organisation (ESO) worked closely together with DG Sante – the EU Commission department responsible for their policies on health and food safety – in the co-creation process for the EU NCD initiative.

This has resulted in the publication of a toolkit to guide Member states and EU policymakers towards a holistic and coordinated approach for health promotion and disease prevention, treatment and care, for diseases including stroke.

The plan covers the period from 2022-2027 and prioritises four disease groups including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, mental health and neurological disorders and health determinants for all major NCDs. Recognising its significant health burden and opportunities for improvement, we are delighted to see that stroke is specifically drawn out as a priority area under mental health and neurological disorders.

The initiative underlines the vital importance of implementing a national stroke plan, increasing public awareness, and improving screening, encompassing the entire chain of care from primary prevention to life after stroke.

This builds on the Stroke Action Plan for Europe 2018-2030, developed by SAFE in collaboration with the European Stroke Organisation.

We look forward to working with DG Sante and the European Commission in implementing the initiative to improve stroke prevention, care and life after stroke for all affected by stroke in Europe.

The full report can be found here: https://t.co/Iofn3e46NW

Harriet Proios, SAFE President, added:

We welcome this response by the European Commission to the ongoing efforts of the health community to prioritise non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on the EU agenda. We worked together with the European Stroke Organisation on a joint response to the consultation which was based on the Stroke Action Plan for Europe and the Essentials of Stroke care guideline.

 

We are delighted that stroke is drawn out as a priority area and that the Stroke Action Plan will be implemented across Europe. This initiative gives us an ideal opportunity to raise the profile of stroke within our countries and we hope it will contribute to reducing the stroke burden, and improve the quality of life of those living with stroke in Europe.

European Life After Stroke Series March 2022 event – now available on demand

European Life After Stroke Series March 2022 event – now available on demand

If you missed our virtual event in March, you can now watch both plenaries at your leisure at our European Life After Stroke website www.elasf.org https://www.elasf.org/resource-centre/

Our next event will be on 9 November 2022. For the latest updates and more information on our Life After Stroke series, sign up to our enewsletter

Thank you for the excellent presentations including stroke survivors stories/experiences. I will definitely be aiming to embed some of these thoughts into my practise to empower my patients to be equipped for self-management in order to give them quality of life as stroke survivors.

Event participant, Plenary 1, Life After Stroke: Be inspired and share control – the added value of self-management

Thank you so much for such an interesting presentation. It was particularly interesting to hear from ‘expert witnesses’ and real- life experience of challenges and coping strategies.

Event participant, Plenary 2, Life after stroke: Communication in everyday life

European Stroke Organisation Conference 2022

European Stroke Organisation Conference 2022

We had a successful face-to-face presence at the European Stroke Organisation Conference 2022 – the first since the start of the pandemic.

Some of the highlights include:

  • A Stroke Action Plan for Europe (SAP-E) workshop where Arlene Wilkie, presented alongside Hanne Christensen (Denmark) and Bo Norving (Sweden). Romania shared their experiences of improving stroke care and Ukraine, Portugal, Italy and Armenia shared their successes to date.

 

  • SAFE President, Harriet Proios, as well as presenting SAP-E awards to Bulgaria, Estonia, Italy, Germany, Greece and Serbia, for their work in promoting SAP-E, spoke of the importance of SAP-E in improving stroke care for stroke survivors.

 

 

  • Harriet gave a moving presentation on the FAST Heroes initiative, Saving the World One Grandparent at a Time, demonstrating the impact successful educational and prevention campaigns can have.

 

  • Rubina Ahmed, SAFE Board member from the Stroke Association, UK, took part in a panel interview on the patient perspective and how to involve stroke survivors in research.