1.07 Patients have a right to be better informed
Patients and the public in general have become, and are continuing to become, far more active in seeking information from the press, electronic media, the internet and other sources. As a result, patients more often now have clear expectations and ideas when they come into contact with the health system.
The internet affords new opportunities both for users and for suppliers of information. This means that patients will be using the internet to an increasing extent to find information and obtain an insight into prevention, illness and therapeutic options as applied to their own situation, both before they contact the health system and during the course of their treatment. It must therefore be recognised that the internet is internationalising patients, so that the latest information from abroad will be known in Denmark too. It will also be apparent what treatments are possible in other countries – and perhaps still not available in Denmark.
In this new information landscape, all parties – the authorities, the medical profession, patient associations, pharmacies and the pharmaceutical industry – have a natural role as sources of information about diseases and treatments. Such information will equip patients better to use their medicines correctly, and help to make people aware of symptoms of undiagnosed illnesses. All parties should have the right and duty to make accessible information available.
Lif believes:
- that all patients have the right to easy access to all unbiased, factual and authoritative information about their illness and about the treatment options that exist,
- that Denmark should take the lead in ensuring that patients have access to and are aware of reliable websites for good-quality factual information – websites that satisfy a set of impartiality criteria and which are ongoing monitored,
- that the Danish public should have access to information about medicines on the Danish pharmaceutical companies’ websites in exactly the same way as they can now find corresponding information on foreign pharmaceutical companies’ websites.
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