“In future, patients and physicians have to work together more closely.“ – Ursula Helms about the influence of self-help in Germany

Together we are stronger – several thousand self-help groups in Germany work with this motto. By this way they got a better hearing from the health care system. REHACARE.de talked with Ursula Helms, managing director of the National Clearing House for the Encouragement and Support of Self-Help Groups (NAKOS) about a generation which wants to achieve something and therefore has some work to do.

01.04.2009

Ursula Helms of the NAKOS
© Helms

REHACARE.de: Ursula Helms, what can a self-help group achieve what a physician cannot achieve?
Ursula Helms: Affected people can exchange their experiences with an illness and for this reason there is more information in a self-help group than a single physician can have. The physician has the competence in diagnosis and therapy, the patient in dealing and living with the disease.

REHACARE.de: Can a physician profit from the experiences of the self-help group?
Helms: Yes. For example, physicians who want to specialise in rare diseases derive a great benefit from self-help groups. They can employ the knowledge they get from the patients.

REHACARE.de: How important will it be in future that physicians and patients communicate more and more?
Helms: It will be quite important. In future, Patients and physicians have to work together more closely. The medical facilities get more and more sophisticated. In the health-related self-help – concretely for people with chronicle diseases – there are more experiences with diagnosis and therapy. Not every physician can be an expert in all innovations and so he can use the support groups as contact person to cope with this task.

REHACARE.de: Patients did not always have such an influence. First since the 70th support groups fight for it. How did this happen?
Helms: Especially the health-related self-help has been strengthened since in 2000 the public fund from the health care insurances was regulated in the social security code. Furthermore, we have more facilities to communicate and to reach more people – in particular due to the internet. Moreover, in contrast to the past self-help-groups have the right to a say in the health care system since 2004. We have been fighting for this over for 30 years.

REHACARE.de: This sounds quite promising.
Helms: Yes, but there is a rub in it. We receive more acceptance and chances, but at the same time more obligations. More and more professionalism is demanded, websites are stipulated and the groups have to participate in committees. This can be too much for members. Some say this is too much work but I think we belong to a generation which wants to take this challenge but also has to do a lot for it.

REHACARE.de: Which other difficulties does self-help in Germany have to face?
Helms: Although the tasks are increasing the public funds are decreasing, since for example the money is spread over more groups. Supporting self-help is a task for the whole society. This means, not only health care insurance and pensions office but also the other social institutions as well as local authorities, the federal government and the federal states have to dedicate to support self-help stronger. My wish would be that all public institutions join in and pay in money into one collective fund.

The interview was conducted by Natascha Mörs.
REHACARE.de