On 19 November, the platform Cronicidad: Horizonte 2025 held an online seminar titled “Comprehensive care for chronic diseases: Challenges, solutions and committments”, with a view to presenting their position to political leaders and wider society.  The vice-president of the Senate, Cristina Narbona; spokespeople for the main parliamentary groups of the Senate’s Health Commission, and the Director General for Public Health, Quality and Innovation from the Ministry of Health, Pilar Aparicio, all took part in the event.   

As a member of the platform, UIC Barcelona contributed by presenting a report on the key factors involved in drawing up policies regarding care for chronic diseases in Spain, led by the University Institute for Patient Care. Its director, Dr Boi Ruiz, also a lecturer at the university, was tasked with setting forth the main conclusions and recommendations drawn from the study.  “As a direct consequence of the healthcare and social achievements over recent decades, life expectancy has increased considerably and as such, so have chronic diseases, now one of the principal healthcare burdens on developed nations.  In recognition of these circumstances, we conducted a comparative analysis on existing proposals with the aim of determining what we have gained from current chronic disease coping strategies in Spain, and generating a series of recommendations that can be updated in due course to suit society’s needs”, explained Dr Ruiz.

Over the course of the seminar, the main collegiate organisations, scientific institutions, patient associations and partner companies involved in chronic disease care in Spain, highlighted the shortcomings and challenges in this field. They also called for a bolstering of primary care, patient empowerment, the positive application of new technologies and a new social-healthcare model for patients suffering from chronic diseases.