John Wilkinson

The turn of the year brings all manner of analysis of the events of one year and predictions for the year ahead. 2010 will not be fondly remembered by many as it heralded the impact of the 2008 banking crisis on the real world of citizens and business. For those in the public sector and […]

When one of the defining minds of business education in recent years turns his attention to healthcare then people would be wise to sit up and listen. Harvard Business School guru Michael Porter first entered the impenetrable world of health policy in 2006 in a book with colleague Elizabeth Teisberg entitled ‘Redefining health care: creating […]

As one of the baby boomers and firmly fingered with responsibility for both the healthcare funding and pensions crises, it is with a very personal interest that I look at emerging trends in care of the chronically sick and ageing. Age unfortunately means collecting co-morbidities, hopefully minor ones, and dealing with them in a way […]

A new report by the OECD makes sobering reading as it makes the point that continued expansion of spending in developed countries is unsustainable. Reading the reported highlights, a couple of statements jumped out at me. “Healthcare costs are escalating rapidly, driven by population aging, rising relative prices and costly developments in medical technology. Public […]

Health and Consumer Affairs Commissioner, John Dalli, made a typically balanced speech about his vision for health on the European agenda at a meeting organised by Friends of Europe. The high-level summit entitled ‘An Innovative Healthcare Agenda for Europe’,  was held this week in the magnificent setting of the Bibliotheque Solvay, in the heart of […]

The build up to last week’s MedTech Forum in Brussels was frenetic for the Eucomed team and left us all exhausted for the weekend. The new week brings time for reflection and some satisfaction at a job well done. It was always our objective to generate a high level of informed debate and bring stakeholders together from different perspectives.

A year on and the mood music in Washington is very different. My return to this beautiful city, where fall colours are emerging in their full majesty, has seen a very different atmosphere from a year ago when the Obama health reforms were on their way and universal coverage seemed a very real probability. The […]

Proponents of greater regulatory harmonisation and cooperation will have been heartened by FDA chief Peggy Hamburg’s comments at the Advamed 2010 conference on Wednesday 20 October. She was quick to acknowledge that, in a changing world with vastly increased trade, the FDA could not continue to operate on an old-fashioned model designed for a time […]

Yesterday afternoon I was fortunate enough to be invited to participate in a round table discussion organised by Motorola as part of the EU Open Days conference organised by the Committee for the Regions. Entitled ‘ EU Wide Patient Safety – A Roundtable to demonstrate ways of overcoming barriers to adoption in healthcare using innovative […]