ESMO CONGRESS 2018
ECPC continues to work hard to place our organisation at the forefront of the European advocacy and at the centre of debate on cancer. Thus, as always at this time of the year, we all attended the Annual ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology) Congress.
This time, the biggest European gathering for oncology professionals and patient advocates took place between 19-23 October in Munich, Germany, giving participants yet another excellent networking opportunity, as well as the possibility to discuss vital issues and challenges faced by cancer patients.
This year’s Congress was held under the tagline “Securing access to optimal cancer care” and also featured a dedicated nursing track through a collaboration with the European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS).
The ESMO 2018 Congress provided a scientific and educational programme that would be able to directly impact the daily clinical practice of oncologists.
ECPC, as a Member of the ESMO Patient Advocates Working Group (PAWG), actively participated in the process of making sure that patients are in the centre of the ongoing discussions. The ESMO PAWG main mission is the optimisation of patient care in Europe and worldwide, the continuous improvement of cancer-specific information and education, the strengthening of patient autonomy and the support of patient rights.
As each year, ECPC had its strong representation at the Congress. The ECPC President, Francesco de Lorenzo, Vice-President, Kathi Apostolidis together with ECPC Board Members, Maude Andersson and Matti Jarvinen, as well as office staff closely followed patient advocacy – focused sessions, as well as attended fruitful meetings with our partners, discussing joint activities and ECPC Action Plan 2019.
We invite you to learn more about ECPC’s main activities during the Congress:
LET’S TALK WOMEN’S CANCER
ECPC Vice-President Kathi Apostolidis presented a new ESMO Patient Guide in Ovarian Cancer, representing significant patients’ voice and views.
EONS11 SYMPOSIUM SESSION
ECPC Board Member Maude Andersson presented on “The impact of contact nurses from a patient’s perspective” during EONS11 Symposium session on: Nursing roles: “Aiming for Better Recognition of Cancer Nursing Across Europe to improve Patient Outcomes”
ECPC Board Member Matti Järvinen presented twice at the EONS11 Symposium. His presentations included sharing the patient perspective on “Carers’ role in patients’ cancer journey” and “The essential elements of safety standards for systematic cancer therapies”
RARE CANCERS EUROPE MEETING
ECPC President Francesco De Lorenzo, Board Member Maude Andersson and Head of Health & Research Programmes Isabelle Manneh participated in a Rare Cancers Europe (RCE) meeting.
ECPC a partner organisation of RCE, working together to place the issue of rare cancers firmly on the European policy agenda, identifying and promoting appropriate solutions and to exchange best practices. RCE members discussed the latest and upcoming activities and brainstormed about RCE’s future.
NUTRITION
ECPC Head of Health & Research Programmes Isabelle Manneh participated in the Medical Nutrition International (MNI) Stakeholder Roundtable, where she contributed with ECPC’s best practices on nutrition, a short summary of the ECPC Nutrition Booklet “Living well during cancer treatment” and recommendations on enteral nutrition.
Furthermore, during the European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS) session on nutrition, Jacqueline Daly highlighted the ECPC Nutrition Booklet. ECPC launched the Living well during Cancer Treatment Nutrition Booklet on the 1 June 2018 to address common questions patients might have about diet, nutrition and physical activity during cancer treatment, and provide essential patient information regarding nutrition and cancer. The booklet was handed out to all attendees of the nutrition session.
EURACAN ePAG MEETING
Several elected European Patient Advocacy Groups (ePAGs) members for the European Reference Network for Rare Adult Solid Cancers (EURACAN) got together for their annual meeting.
ePAG patient representatives have an official permanent mandate to represent ePAG member organisations. They liaise with these organisations to ensure true and equitable representation of the patient voice by participating in the Board and sub-clinical committees of their respective ERN.
The recruitment of these representatives is ongoing to ensure that patients are fully represented in the governance of each and every ERN. Patient representatives have already been elected to numerous ERNs but additional applications are welcome for all networks.
This meeting was attended by ECPC Head of Health & Research Programmes Isabelle Manneh as ePAG representatives across all 10 EURACAN tumour domains