Kontakt 2007, 9(2):363-365 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2007.055

Importance and targets of patient organizationsHealth and Social Sciences

Hana Konečná

Jihočeská univerzita v Českých Budějovicích, Zdravotně sociální fakulta, katedra klinických oborů

In the last century, together with the democratization of the society, man as an individual appeared in the focus of interest. Different documents are being formulated declaring his/her rights and duties. These changes are reflected in all the areas of the human life including the situation of being ill - the field of medicine. The target of the work is to indicate the social and political context of the change mentioned. Input data are documents concerning remarkable patient organizations, particularly declarations of targets. These data were quantitatively analyzed and supplemented by personal experience of the author of the contribution, who is strongly engaged as a volunteer in one of the patient organizations.
The patient organizations are not a quite new phenomenon. However, their importance has been considerably increased over the last years. The declared purposes do not only include the psychosocial support of patients and their relatives and transfer of information, but attempts are being increased to establish the patient-centred healthcare, to amplify the influence of patients in the creation of the health politics and to facilitate the attainability of the treatment and information. An important target of patient organizations is protection of rights of patients declared in different documents. The patient organizations operate at different levels and are associated into large bodies. The task of the healthcare system is providing of the healthcare to all the people who are in need of it. Of course, enormously growing requirements for the medical care cannot be satisfied with restricted financial sources. The care should be rationalized with making decision about the type of the care provided for particular groups. Of course, representatives of patients cannot be absent during these negotiations.

Keywords: Patient organization; patient-centred healthcare; health service system; rights of patients; psychosocial context

Received: October 4, 2007; Accepted: October 22, 2007; Published: December 21, 2007  Show citation