European Commission Adopts e-health Action Plan

An Action Plan which has recently been adopted by the European Commission shows how information and communication technologies can be used to deliver better quality healthcare across Europe. The "e-Health Action Plan" covers everything from electronic prescriptions and computerised health records to using new systems and services to cut waiting times and reduce errors. It is envisaged that the proposals will contribute to better healthcare at the same or lower cost.

The Action Plan sets out the objective of a "European e-Health Area" and identifies practical steps to achieve this through work on electronic health records, patient identifiers and health cards, and the faster rollout of high speed internet access for health systems to allow the full potential of e- Health to be delivered.