IAPO would like to thank all our members who took the time to respond to our consultation in May 2004.  It was very encouraging to hear from so many of you (nearly 50%) and hearing about your policy priorities and capacity building requirements means that we can base our planning and activities on the concerns and needs of our members. 
 
Summary of results
To give you an overview of how members responded to the online consultation, we will outline some of the main results here:

Policy Priorities
Almost 90% considered that the patient’s role in healthcare policy was very relevant to their organizations.  The other issues that respondents thought were very relevant were: the patient’s role in healthcare systems and delivery (82%); the relations between patients and healthcare professionals (83%), access to treatment and medication (81%); defining patient-centred healthcare (74%); and patients’ rights and responsibilities (74%). 

The six other policy issues were considered very relevant by less than 50% of respondents.  Members had the opportunity to suggest additional policy issues which gives us a good indication of other important issues. 

Global Patients Congress
Over 60% considered that fundraising training would be very useful to their organizations and over 50% considered that activities on advocacy and campaigning, effective collaboration with external stakeholders and patients’ organizations, formulating policy on key issues and providing patient information online would be very useful.

There was less agreement on what other sessions would be desirable but interaction with representatives of other key stakeholders (46%) and other member organizations (43%) considered to be the most useful.  The importance of IAPO’s Global Patients Congress as a meeting place; using the sessions to develop partnerships with others; and learning about how healthcare policies differ around the world were given as extra comments by respondents.

Next Steps
The results have clearly shown us what policy issues are important to our members.  It was encouraging to see that there was a significant consensus on which policy issues are most important and this information is being considered continually as we plan and carry out policy activities. 

The results concerning capacity building activities that members would find useful at the Global Patients Congress, 26-27 February 2005 will guide the planning of the Programme.  An Organizing Committee of member representatives is being established during July and August 2004 to work with our Programme Organizer.  All members will be invited to give feedback on a Preliminary Programme at a later stage.

Full results
The results and further information on IAPO’s policy activities are presented in a PDF file, available to download by clicking here.