Interreg Grants €1.2 Million to UT-Led BRIDGE Project for Cross-Border Healthcare Cooperation

Prof. Dr. Oliver Treib (U Münster), Dr. Caroline Fischer (UT), Dr. Vincent Hofbauer (UKM Münster). They are standing in the Ministry of Economics in NRW, where they needed to pitch the BRIDGE application for the funders.

(IN BRIEF) The European grant scheme Interreg has awarded over €1.2 million to the University of Twente (UT) research project BRIDGE, which is dedicated to cross-border healthcare cooperation. Scheduled to commence in spring 2024, BRIDGE aims to map ongoing initiatives, analyze barriers to resource pooling, and develop solutions. Hospitals near the German-Dutch border face challenges such as resource limitations, staff shortages, and medicine scarcity, which affect the quality of care provided. Resource pooling, which involves coordinating and sharing resources between health institutions, is essential to address these issues. BRIDGE seeks to streamline cross-border resource pooling, reduce administrative burdens, and improve healthcare quality. The project brings together an interdisciplinary team of experts, including social scientists, medical professionals, engineers, and computer scientists, to enhance healthcare and support a resilient healthcare system in the region. This initiative aligns with a recently signed Memorandum of Understanding between cross-border parties.

(PRESS RELEASE) ENSCHEDE, 20-Dec-2023 — /EuropaWire/ — European grant scheme Interreg awarded a grant of more than €1.2 million to the UT research project BRIDGE. The UT-led research project focuses on cross-border cooperation in healthcare. BRIDGE will map ongoing initiatives and analyze and decrease barriers to resource pooling. The project will start in spring 2024.

Hospitals close to the border face the challenge of providing high-quality care with limited resources. These range from lower capacity in sparsely populated regions and associated staff shortages to the scarcity of intensive care beds or medicine shortages. Public health does not stop at the border, as the COVID-19 pandemic showed.

RESOURCE POOLING

That is where resource pooling across borders becomes crucial. Resource pooling is a set of tools and strategies to coordinate and share resources between health institutions. The aim is to reduce gaps in the provision of resources and services while minimising waste through duplication of resources and unnecessary transport costs. Through resource pooling, hospitals in the German-Dutch border region quickly have the resources they need in case of a sudden emergency, without having to store them. For patients, this means shorter distances and faster access to specialised care.

BRIDGE

Currently, exchanges are already taking place across borders in the region with regard to helicopters and ambulances, emergency care and acute paediatric care. These projects are organised separately and cooperation is based on individual agreements. Also, the projects experience huge administrative burdens. BRIDGE identifies opportunities for coordinated cross-border resource pooling, develops and implements a digital platform to facilitate this, and provides input for relevant policy decisions.

INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAM

Researchers from UT: Caroline Fischer and Le Anh Long from Public Administration and Gréanne Leeftink from Industrial Engineering, are collaborating in this research project with Vincent Hofbauer (UKM University hospital Münster), Manon Bruens (Acute Care Euregio), Oliver Treib (University of Münster), and Vittoria Chimisso (NovioQ). This interdisciplinary team of social scientists, medical professionals, engineers and computer scientists aims to help improve the quality of healthcare in the region. At the same time, they want to gain insights that will enable healthcare policymakers and managers to make better decisions. These actions will support a more robust and resilient healthcare system in the region. The mutual cooperation coincides with the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding between the cross-border parties.

Media Contact:

DRS. J.G.M. VAN DEN ELSHOUT (JANNEKE)
Press relations (available Mon-Fri)
+31 53 489 6007
j.g.m.vandenelshout@utwente.nl

SOURCE: University of Twente