| Current services in Slovenia |
| The following palliative care services are known to exist in Slovenia: |
| |
Existing Services (2002) |
| Adult |
Inpatient - Freestanding |
0 |
| - Hospital Unit |
0 |
| - Hospital mobile team |
1 |
| Nursing Home |
0 |
| Home Care |
5 |
| Day Care |
0 |
| Total |
6 |
| Paediatric |
Inpatient |
0 |
| Home Care |
0 |
| Day Care |
0 |
| Unspecified |
0 |
| Total |
0 |
| Grand Total |
6 |
|
| Current Projects |
| No palliative care projects, not yet operational services, are known to exist in Slovenia. |
| |
Known hospice/ palliative care projects (2002) |
| Adult |
Inpatient - Hospital |
0 |
| - Hospice |
0 |
| Home Care |
0 |
| Unspecified |
0 |
| Total |
0 |
| Paediatric |
Hospital |
0 |
| Hospice |
0 |
| Home Care |
0 |
| Unspecified |
0 |
| Total |
0 |
| Grand Total |
0 |
|
| Slovenia has 1 mobile hospital team and 5 home care services in palliative care. There are no inpatient palliative care beds, either in hospitals or in freestanding hospices. A mobile team specialises in pain management within the Department of Oncological Anaesthesiology at the Institute of Oncology, Ljubljana, where there is a doctor with the Diploma in Palliative Care from the University of Wales College of Medicine; the team takes care of adult patients within the Institute and liaises with their family doctors. A further 7 pain relief services see outpatients in hospitals across the country. The home care services in Ljubljana and Maribor work closely together and have nursing leadership, working closely with others in the primary health care system. There are educational and charitable links and twinning arrangements with palliative care services elsewhere (St Christopher's Hospice, London; St Helena Hospice, Colchester; Wheatfields Hospice, Leeds - all UK) and internationally with ECEPT and EAPC. |
| Some 50% of deaths from cancer occur at home, which is now the preference of most patients; until recently, however, 'terminally ill patients preferred to be admitted to the hospital where, though lonely, both the patients and their families actually felt safer.'2 Another questionnaire contained the following comment: |
| |
'In my view, the readiness of medical staff and the general population to help patients to fight with lethal diseases is immense. What we lack is knowledge (recommendations for the treatment of symptoms) and subvention from the state. At the Medical Faculty of Ljubljana, Slovenia, there is no specialty of palliative medicine; hence we have neither specialists in palliative care nor departments for palliative care nor potential for research studies in the field of palliative medicine.'3 |
|
| One respondent working in Slovenia's only cancer centre and seeking to develop work in palliative care described the situation thus: |
| |
'Patients are looked after by their oncologist/surgeon on the wards. Symptom management varies from doctor to doctor. Psychological, social and spiritual issues are very often not addressed. Organisation of work is very hierarchical. Some patients are transferred for symptom management to their local hospitals. When discharged home they are looked after by GP and district nurse if necessary. The oncologists can give advice to the GP over the 'phone, but it is not widely used.'4 |
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