The Directorate General for Regulation, Planning and Health Resources directs and coordinates the designing, monitoring and assessment of the Catalonia Health Plan, which for the period from 2011 to 2015 has three main axes: 1) Health Programs, 2) Transformation of the model of assistance, and 3) Modernisation of the organisational model. The General Directorate establishes the directives for guiding the services to obtain results in health and service quality.

1. The new Health Plan is the instrument of change of the Catalan health system that will enable it to face not only the present social and economic structural tendencies, but also the technological changes. What are the priorities for 2011-2015 in this last area?

Technological changes are transversal aspects in the health system and offer many opportunities to make old aspirations reality, from service accessibility to the coordination of levels or efficiency in many services. The proposal of the Health Plan is based on promoting a form of government of the information systems that is unified and allows information to be shared with different suppliers while assuring independence and also transparency for the whole sector. In short, it is intended to be assistance with confirmed access to information that allows the medical management, the efficiency of the system and accounts rendering to be improved.

2. It is a complete declaration of intentions by the Health Ministry that one of the lines of action of the new plan should be shared information, transparency and assessment. What projects have been planned?

The Health Plan 2011-15 includes four projects: 1) the transformation of the shared medical record into a network of information, 2) the deployment of a multi-channel network of communication and attention for citizens, 3) the consolidation of the Catalonia Health Observatory as a basis for transferring information, and finally, 4) the fostering of systematic assessment both in the area of technologies and in that of quality and research.

3. What is the role of the Anella TICSalut and the knowledge bank on the roadmap of the Health Plan 2011-2015?

The Anella TICSalut will be fundamental for achieving the line of action objectives such as chronicity and resolution. With the Anella it will be easier to have good integration and coordination between the different levels of assistance. As our system has a large number of suppliers, the Anella is a fundamental challenge that must enable suppliers to share information and responsibility in attending people and especially those suffering from chronic illnesses. A
further study must be made of the assessment and evaluation of the cover of the health system in the areas of technology, quality and research. The assessment area of the Agency of Information, Assessment and Quality in Health (Agència d’Informació, Avaluació i Qualitat en Salut) will lead this project.

4. Another of the points included in the new Health Plan is the consolidation of the Catalonia Health System Observatory. What work is being done to achieve this target?

To be able to see the development of the health system and the results being obtained in terms of the population’s state of health, it is essential to have quality, accessible information. The Health System Observatory will have a double purpose: firstly to consolidate the infrastructures of the information systems by defining criteria, catalogues, databases or variables that facilitate the assessment and accounts rendering. Additionally, it will have a service portfolio as a provider of information services that must be useful on the political and technical level, and regarding research and information to citizens. It will have to be an observatory that gives information in order to know, compare and take decisions.

5. The citizens become the prime purpose of the Catalan Health System according to the new Health Plan, with a larger amount of information. How will the new ICTs be used in deploying these new channels of communication with the citizens?

As I said, there is a plan to deploy a multi-channel network of communication for citizens’ attention. This network includes several aspects such as Sanitat Respon (Health Replies), the Canal Salut (Health Channel) with different thematic channels and the Personal Health Folder. I believe that we must all make an effort to anticipate and to take advantage of the potential offered by the new technologies.

6. The Plan is intended to be an open, living work tool for all players of the health sector. How do the new technologies help this work?

Information technologies have undoubtedly helped us a great deal to draw up this Health Plan in such a short time, and it has also been very useful for us to receive contributions from many people who have made suggestions through the website. In the time in which the Plan is being carried out, we want to incorporate important aspects that help us to better adapt it to the needs, or other aspects that are the result of experience. In this sense, the Catalonia Health Survey

(Enquesta de Salut de Catalunya - ESCA) is an on-going matter that will give us information regularly and with greater flexibility.

7. Finally, to what extent do you believe that ICTs will contribute to the sustainability of the Catalan health system and in guiding its transformation process on the horizon of 2015?

This Health Plan is the view we have today of the health system that we want for tomorrow and inseparably includes the development and very broad implementation of information technologies.
I have no doubt of its enormous potential to make the system more sustainable by making it more resolving and efficient.