10.X.2. Strengthening primary health care through best practice transfer: the CIRCE-JA approach
Authors:   Organised by: CIRCE-JA Consortium, EC,   Chair persons: Loukianos Gatzoulis (Belgium), Elena Petelos (EUPHA-HTA, EUPHA-GH)
Published: October 2024

Primary health care (PHC) is a fundamental component of resilient, strong, and sustainable health systems. The main aim of PHC is to address people’s health in a high-quality comprehensive system approach, ensuring person-centred and integrated care across their lifespan, which includes their physical, mental and social well-being. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, health systems’ strengthening has become a global public health and European public health priority, and an overarching objective of the EU4Health programme. In Feb 2023, the three-year Joint Action on the transfer of best praCtices In pRimary CarE (CIRCE-JA) was launched. Its overall objective is to effectively transfer and implement six identified PHC best practices (BPs) across EU Member States (MS), with scientifically robust evidence-based approach, to ensure sound transferability methodology. Critically, it aims to increase MS capacity to deploy innovative care models in PHC and to effectively support health system transformation at this level of care. CIRCE-JA is a collaborative effort with 14 MS participating, bringing together 48 entities, to initially transfer the identified BPs into 42 new implementation sites, whilst at the same time generate all the necessary tools to facilitate uptake and evidence-informed decision-making across all MS. This implementation is based on the alignment of key BP characteristics to meet the local healthcare needs and priorities and match them with national and regional policies. It aims to facilitate integration of public health priorities to PHC practice, and to support the reorganization of services, for strong health promotion focus, synergies with community care, and better coordination of care. During this session key aspects will be discussed using the Pecha Kucha style, to inform the audience about current progress and CIRCE-JA using short stories, also on EU policies and priorities, and the EU4Health support for PHC and public health integration. What is urgently needed at EU-level when it comes to health systems’ strengthening in the post-COVID-19 period and why is PHC critical in this respect? How can the CIRCE-JA developments inform the ongoing transfer and future efforts for the selected BPs in terms of a robust scientifically evidence-based approach? How does the policy dialogue CIRCE-JA is establishing locally, nationally, regionally, supports not only the JA’s sustainability, but all future implementation efforts for PHC?

Finally, a brief interaction with the audience will take a place to allow attendees to discuss on key priorities and challenges in their own settings and practice, including the barriers and difficulties that they have initially identifies in the implementation efforts. The output of this interaction will also inform the initial steps towards the establishment of the final deliverable of CIRCE-JA, i.e., the European Primary Healthcare Observatory, to sit on the European Commission’s Health Policy Platform.

Key messages

• Health systems’ strengthening necessitates strong PHC. CIRCE-JA delivers state-of-the-art tools and brokers policy dialogue to achieve it across Europe.

• Several barriers and issues that facilitate the transferring process have been identified in the first implementation of this European initiative.

Speakers/Panelists

Christos Lionis

CSFM & HSR-PH Lab, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece

Ana M Carriazo

Regional Ministry of Health and Families of Andalusia, Seville, Spain

Alice Borghini

National Agency for Regional Health Services AGENAS, Rome, Italy

Radivoje Pribakovic

NIJZ, Ljubljana, Slovenia