According to him, the ministry currently hopes that the number of patients who did not come to the doctor and did not inform about it can be reduced by applying primarily soft measures.
“We encourage medical institutions to install information systems and call centers that actively remind people that there is a consultation. We see that a reminder the day before encourages people to check if they can come the next day. For now, we expect more from soft measures”, said E. Diržius.
Another SRK member, conservative Linas Slušnys, suggested that the problem of patients not arriving at the agreed time should be resolved at the level of self-government.
“Maybe we can allow the municipality, not necessarily the ministry, to change the legislation so that the municipality has some leverage, what to do if the patient did not come?” Maybe it would be resolved quickly?” asked the conservative.
As Odeta Vitkūnienė, Director of the Department of Personal Health of the Medical Center of the Slovak Republic, emphasized at the committee meeting, it is a civic duty of the patient to inform the doctor about not coming to the doctor a day before the visit.
“It is established by law that it is the patient’s duty to inform about non-arrival 24 hours in advance. But that duty on the part of the patient is not always performed. This requires such civic responsibility both towards oneself and towards others – maybe someone else could get that service at that time, but he remains without the service. In this way, both the patient and the doctor lose”, said O. Vitkūnienė.
According to SAM data, this year about 78 percent patients manage to see a doctor within 30 days. This is a record high number since 2019, says O. Vitkūnienė.
ELTA reminds that, according to SAM data, at the end of last year, health care institutions lacked a total of 652 health care specialists – 524 doctors and 128 other health care specialists, including 79 nurses. According to the survey conducted by the State Audit Office last year, slightly more than a third of medical institutions stated that they lack nurses or nurse assistants.
2024-09-16 08:27:56