The Ministry of Health continues to communicate intensively with medical union representatives. At the Thursday meeting in the resort, they were presented with concrete steps to improve the work of health professionals and increase efficiency in the provision of healthcare.
An important step that will ease the work of health professionals and allow them to spend more time with the patient and less on administration is to increase the emphasis on digitisation of health documentation. –We are currently preparing the purchase of tablets, which will be distributed gradually to hospitals. This will relieve the work of nurses who will be able to record information about the patient's health into the system directly at his bedside. This will give the nurse time to spend with the patient, stated after a meeting with representatives of the LOP State Secretary MZ SR Lenka Dunajová Družkovská. In parallel with the preparation of procurement, technical solutions are being developed to link information systems. Hospitals will enter the project gradually and depending on technical options. The topic of the talks was also the question of adequate evaluation. The partners were assured that the Ministry of Health was making every effort to obtain additional funding to achieve an increase in the salaries of health workers. A comparison of the salaries of health professionals with other countries is being prepared to serve as a basis for decision-making. It is important to stress that the increase in pay rates must be permanent and must bring a higher level of fairness to the system.
Medical union representatives were also informed that the Ministry is preparing changes to the 2008 Decree on minimum requirements for staffing and material-technical equipment for each type of medical facility.
Here too, it is intended that nurses should be able to carry out more professional work and thus make the work of the departments more efficient and improve the working conditions of health workers. The subject of the information meeting was also the topic of DRG or payments for performances from health insurance companies. A working meeting was held at the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic with representatives of the Slovak department on cooperation opportunities, including comparison of Czech and Slovak performances catalogue, points and prices. In the case of DRG, the data collected from hospitals are currently being evaluated and methodological procedures are being developed. If relevant, the DRG system can be piloted on 1 January 2023. Representatives of the Ministry of Health have an interest in continuing discussions with trade union representatives.