Primary prevention in hospitals in 20 high-income countries in Europe – A case of not “Making Every Contact Count”?

• Published in: Health policy (Amsterdam) 2025-01, Vol.151, p.105199, Article 105199
• Main Authors: Rechel, Bernd, Durvy, Béatrice, Augusto, Gonçalo Figueiredo, Aujoulat, Isabelle, Behmane, Daiga, Bensadon, Anne-Carole, Burke, Sara, D'Agostino, Melissa, Davidovics, Krisztina, Dayan, Mark, De Belvis, Antonio Giulio, de Jong, Judith, Dubas-Jakóbczyk, Katarzyna, Fronteira, Inês, Gabriel, Elena, Greco, Giuseppe, Groenewegen, Peter, Jervelund, Signe Smith, Kantaris, Marios, Kroneman, Madelon, Farkas-Lainscak, Jerneja, Maurice, Benjamin, Conghail, Luisne Mac, Murauskiene, Liubove, Poldrugovac, Mircha, Rákosy, Zsuzsa, Scintee, Silvia Gabriela, Sowada, Christoph, Turblin, Frédéric, Vankova, Desislava, Velkey, Zita, Vladescu, Cristian, Vocanec, Dorja, Vrangbæk, Karsten, Wünscher, Johannes, Ylitörmänen, Tuija
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Developed Countries; Europe; Health Policy; Health-promoting hospitals; Hospitals; Humans; Making Every Contact Count; MECC; Prevention; Primary Prevention; Surveys and Questionnaires
• ISSN: 0168-8510; 1872-6054; 1872-6054
• DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2024.105199

•This article provides a snapshot of primary prevention in hospitals in Europe.•Only 5 of 20 European countries have relevant national policies.•Only 2 of these 5 countries have allocated additional funding.•Countries are missing out on the opportunity for “Making Every Contact Count”. This article provides a snapshot of primary prevention activities in hospitals in 20 European high-income countries, based on inputs from experts of the Observatory's Health Systems and Policies Monitor (HSPM) network using a structured questionnaire. We found that in the vast majority of countries (15), there are no systematic national policies on primary prevention in hospitals. Five countries (Cyprus, Finland, Ireland, Romania and the United Kingdom) reported systematic primary prevention activities in hospitals, although in one of them (Cyprus) this was due to the fact that small hospitals in rural areas or less populated districts host providers of primary care. In two of the five countries with systematic national policies on primary prevention, there are no incentives (financial or otherwise) to provide these interventions. The remaining three countries (Finland, Romania and the United Kingdom) report the existence of incentives, but only two of them (Romania and the United Kingdom) provide financial incentives in the form of additional funding. Only two of the 20 countries (Ireland and the United Kingdom) make explicit use of the Making Every Contact Count (MECC) approach. Overall, it can be concluded that there is little focus on primary prevention in hospitals in Europe, which may be seen as a missed opportunity.