Some of the reasons why patient participation is still absent in some key health areas, and not strong enough in others include lack of awareness and recognition of patient empowerment; slow pace in sharing and adopting good practices; lack of resources in the health system but also of patient organisations; poor know-how on how to meaningfully involve patients and patient organisations; and a patient community with very different levels of capacity and different priorities across the EU.

This toolkit from the European Patients Forum for patient organisations provides an overview for patient empowerment tools. It includes various key advocacy tools on patient empowerment, and emphasises on the added value of patient organisations.