Greece and Portugal exchange know-how on the organization of primary health care services

17-01-2015  WHO

Ministry of Health, GreeceTeam of policy-makers from Greece learn from Portugal’s experiences with primary health care.

A study visit to Portugal for policy-makers from Greece was organized by the WHO Programme Management Team in Athens on 1–5 December 2014. The Greek delegation comprised representatives of the Ministry of Health, regional health authorities and the Union of General Practitioners. The 5-day programme included meetings at the Directorate General for Health, Central Administration of Health Systems and National Health Institute Doutor Ricardo Jorge in Lisbon; visits to primary health care (PHC) providers in Figuera da Roz and the public medical centre USF Marginal in Estoril; and a 1-day seminar with Portuguese policy-makers. 

The main objective of the visit was to exchange experience on the organization of PHC services and their contracting with pay-for-performance components in the context of starting up family health units under the implementation of the PHC Law in Greece. 

The visits, meetings and seminar focused on:

contracting models in PHC;

monitoring key performance indicators in PHC;

clinical data management in PHC;

electronic health records in PHC;

human resources in PHC and medical training.

“Only through the development of a national network of family health units will Greece manage to ensure universal health coverage to its whole population,” said Dr Pavlos Theodorakis, Chairman of the National Primary Health Care Committee of the Ministry of Health and WHO Senior Advisor on primary health care reform in Greece. He added: “Portugal will be our guide towards this challenging but necessary and unprecedented reform effort.” 

Dr Francisco George, Director General of Health, Ministry of Health of Portugal noted in turn that the “Ministry of Health supports the Greek primary health care reform and we are happy to share our experiences and lessons learnt.”

After returning to Greece, the delegation planned to brief key staff from the Ministry of Health and professional organizations in a follow-up seminar focused on the feasibility of creating an environment in which the Greek system can develop viable solutions for its future PHC network.

Ongoing collaboration with WHO

The study visit was part of the Greek Ministry’s Health Reform Support Programme 2013-2015, established within its Framework of Health in Action Initiative. The Programme consists of 10 actions, called “pillars”, to strengthen the development, performance and sustainability of its health system by improving the quality of care and financial protection, with primary health care as its cornerstone. 

The Ministry requested WHO/Europe to play an extensive and active role in this effort and the partners signed a Contribution Agreement on 18 July 2013. The most important result of the first year of collaboration was the development and approval of the new PHC Law in February 2014, which is currently under implementation.