Minister for Health Chris Fearne, together with the European Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis, stressed the importance of multidisciplinary teams for optimal patient outcomes in cancer care while addressing the European Cancer Congress ECCO 2017 yesterday in Amsterdam.


This, they said, requires proper governance, a clear structure, and a dispute-resolution mechanism to ensure the success of the multidisciplinary team.

During his speech Minister Fearne highlighted the necessity of highly trained specialists to ensure better patient outcomes. This can be a challenge for small- and medium-sized countries. In fact, this issue will be addressed as one of the priorities that Malta will be presenting in the Health Council during its Presidency. Malta is looking into establishing common training frameworks to enable all healthcare professionals, all members of the teams, the opportunity for specialist training. In addition, Malta will be looking at the cross-border health care directive to help reduce inequalities and ensure that the directive helps and support patients who come from smaller countries.