The revamped and expanded European Patient Ambassador Programme

It has been a busy year for the European Patient Ambassador Programme (EPAP), which has been revamped, expanded and translated.

Review and update

ELF carried out the first review of the programme with the EPAP Patient Advisory Group in spring. As a result, all modules were revised and updated. The ‘influencing policy’ and ‘working with the media’ modules were rewritten to make them more accessible, user-friendly and relevant.

New module

A new module – ‘participating in healthcare conferences’ – was written with the Patient Advisory Group. They also helped test the new module, which launched as part of the revamped programme 1 June, 2015.

Translation into Dutch

ELF aims to translate EPAP into as many languages as possible so that more patients can have the opportunity to benefit from the free course. This year, we decided to begin with Dutch, as the ERS International Congress took place in Amsterdam this year.

ELF worked with PGO Support, who are a national umbrella patient organisation in the Netherlands, who helped us make the professional translation of the programme patient-friendly and provided details on the health system in the Netherlands.

It was a pleasure to launch the Dutch version in Amsterdam at the end of September, and a good number of Dutch patients and patient organisations have signed up for the programme since then.

New website

EPAP now also has a brand new website, where you can find information on the programme, further resources and details of any opportunities for patient ambassadors.

Future plans

We are currently working on a new module on patient involvement in EU projects.

In addition, we are looking into translating EPAP into Italian, French and Spanish in the next 12 months.

Visit the EPAP website.