A large number of healthcare and social service professionals, healthcare managers and patients met at the 9th National Congress of Chronic Patient Healthcare and the 4th Active Patient National Conference.

The conference held at the Congress and Exhibition Palace of Oviedo, with the slogan “We still have time!” focused on proposing the implementation of innovative strategies for Chronic Care. The “Don’t do” recommendations and comparison between the approaches to the Complex Chronic Patient from the different Autonomous Communities were among other issues covered.

Furthermore, the need to establish new organisational models in healthcare systems was also discussed. These models highlight the importance of care co-ordination aimed at rendering integrated services for patients, achieving healthcare of a greater quality.

This year, there was a space dedicated to present good practices and projects related to the main strategic lines to approach chronic diseases. In this sense, the European projects where Kronikgune and Osakidetza are involved were presented in the speech sessions organised during the congress.

In this way, Dr Marisa Merino, Managing Director of Tolosaldea IHO and main researcher of the Carewell Project in the Basque Country, presented the new integrated care model for multimorbid patients implemented in the different Osakidetza organisations. This communication was nominated as one of the best experiences in chronicity.

The C3Cloud project was also presented in a brief speech made by Antonio de Blas, responsible for Osakidetza Osarean Programme and participant in the project. An opportunity to showcase the work being done with the aim of providing chronic patients with multiple comorbidities with ongoing long-term, personalised, integrated, multi-disciplinary and coordinated care. To do so, the generation of an architecture based on innovative new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) developments is envisaged.

Likewise, MasterMind and Scirocco European projects were also presented in a brief communication session. The first speech focused on the “development of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for patients with depression” in the Basque Country. The second speech, on the process in progress to “use a proven validated tool (Adapted Maturity Model), facilitating the scaling and successful transfer of Good Practices in integrated care between European regions”.

A new annual meeting for public and private healthcare professionals in PrimaryHospitaland Mental Healthcare and Social Sector, where attendees had an opportunity to obtain first-hand knowledge of the European research projects where Kronikgune and Osakidetza are involved in.