| Current services in Slovakia |
| The following palliative care services are known to exist in Slovakia: |
| |
Existing Services (2002) |
| Adult |
Inpatient - Freestanding |
0 |
| - Hospital Unit |
2 |
| - Hospital mobile team |
0 |
| Nursing Home |
0 |
| Home Care |
1 |
| Day Care |
0 |
| Total |
3 |
| Paediatric |
Inpatient |
0 |
| Home Care |
0 |
| Day Care |
0 |
| Unspecified |
1 |
| Total |
1 |
| Grand Total |
4 |
|
| Current Projects |
| The following palliative care projects are known to exist in Slovakia; these are not yet operational services |
| |
Known hospice/ palliative care projects (2002) |
| Adult |
Inpatient - Hospital |
12 |
| - Hospice |
11 |
| Home Care |
0 |
| Unspecified |
0 |
| Total |
23 |
| Paediatric |
Hospital |
0 |
| Hospice |
0 |
| Home Care |
0 |
| Unspecified |
0 |
| Total |
0 |
| Grand Total |
23 |
|
| The situation in Slovakia as at February 2002 has been summarised as follows from within the Ministry of Health.2 There are currently 2 inpatient palliative care units in Slovakia; one is the palliative care ward of the National Cancer Institute, Bratislava (19 beds) and the other is the Strazske Geriatrics Centre in Michalovce (8 beds). Both wards have been financed as nursing services by Public Health Insurance, in each case from the general budget of the institution. In addition, the Ministry of Health has registered 11 freestanding hospice projects (5 NGOs, 6 Christian charities) and 12 projects for palliative care wards within existing facilities (9 hospitals, 3 specialist institutes); but investment costs for these have been considered too high and no funding for them is available. The first freestanding hospice in Slovakia is expected to open in 2003, probably in Bardejov or Nitra. There is one paediatric service, called 'Flicker', and one adult home care service. |
| It is estimated that the country requires 550 palliative care beds: 27 exist. However, among health professionals, palliative medicine is seen as a form of competition, which will reduce the number of acute beds available. |
| One palliative care commentator states: 'Nowadays there are several foundations, civil associations and Catholic charity projects aimed at support of the hospice movement in Slovakia', but comprehensive help to families with a terminally ill member is not available.3 It also appears that the country's healthcare problems are compounded by vested interests within medicine, a preoccupation with the interests of hospitals and hospital-based physicians and an unhelpful segregation of health and social care. |
| Education |
| Some optional educational programmes are provided by Hospice Martin, for local postgraduates in medicine and nursing; elsewhere in the other medical and nursing schools there are optional sessions in end of life care, within the programme of study on ethics. One NGO, Pallium, has an Open Society Foundation Grant for a country-wide educational support programme, starting in June 2002. At the same time the Ministry of Health is considering the recognition of Pain Management and Palliative Medicine as a specialty, requiring recognition within the Decree of the Further Education of Health Care Workers and incorporation into the curriculum of the Slovak Postgraduate Academy of Medicine. |
|
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