Communication of the outcome of the petition

Pet 7/2023

The petitioner shall: Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic

Name of the petition: –Petitions for inclusion Hospitals with the Myjava Polyclinic with the seat of Staromyjavská 59, 907 01 Myjava and Hospitals on the outskirts of the city, n.o., with the seat of the New Hospital 511, 958 01 Partizánske to the network of hospitals II. level within the classification of hospitals"

It's quare:No.

Number of persons supporting the petition: 34,809

Date of delivery: 26.06.2023

Date of equipment: 08.08.2023

Type of equipment: Paragraph 5 (6) of Law No 85/1990 Coll. on petition law as amended - not evaluated

Reason for equipment:
On 26.06.2023, a petition entitled "Petition for the inclusion of the Hospital with the Polyclinic Myjava with the seat of Staromyjavská 59, 907 01 Myjava and the Hospital on the outskirts of the city, n.o., with the seat of the New Hospital 511, 958 01 Partizánske to the hospital network II. within the classification of hospitals" was submitted by the Chairman of the Petitions Committee and Vice-President of the Trenčín Self-Governing Region and at the same time by a person appointed to represent the contact with the public authority (hereinafter referred to as the "Deputy") by letter. The accompanying letter stated that the petition in question was signed on 1773 signatures in the document form by 30 139 persons and on 584 sheets in electronic form by 4670 persons, together with 34 809 persons.

MZ SR administration labeled "Peticia for inclusion" Hospitals with the clinic Myjava based in Staromyjavská 59, 907 01 Myjava and Hospital on the outskirts of the city, n.o., with the seat of the Nová hospital 511, 958 01 Partizánske to the hospital network level II. within the classification of hospitals and accepted and after an assessment of its material and formal requirements in the context of the provisions of the law of petitions was registered in the Special Report of the Registry of the Slovak Republic as petition under the. zn. Pet 7/2023, which is the nature of the request.

In view of the fact that the petition is of the nature of the application, the Ministry of the Slovak Republic, as a public authority responsible for its execution, is obliged to arrange for the petition in question pursuant to § 5 (6) of the Act on petition law, in which, if it is apparent from the contents of the petition that the petition cannot be dealt with pursuant to § 5 (5) of the Act on petition law, the public authority responsible for the execution of the petition containing the request or proposal will assess its content and send a written reply together with the statement of reasons to the representative within the period under § 5 (5) of the Act on petition law. Pursuant to Article 5d (1) of the Law on Petitions, if the petition is supported by at least 10,000 persons, it will be discussed by the competent public authority with a representative and a petition committee for the whole territory of the Slovak Republic. The meeting took place on 28.07.2023.

In accordance with the above provisions of the law on petition law of the Slovak Republic, as a public authority competent to deal with the petition submitted, he submitted the following reply to the representative.

In December 2022, in the determination of the hospital network, the Ministry proceeded in accordance with § 45 (7) of Act No 540/2021 Coll. on the categorisation of institutional health care, decided to conditionally assign hospitals to the hospital network and issued the first list of categorised hospitals. This is the first sub-phase of the classification of hospitals, which means that hospitals are included in the basic level of compulsory programmes and that compulsory programmes are established for individual hospitals.

The second stage in the establishment of the hospital network involved the approval of supplementary programmes which the hospital may provide in addition to compulsory programmes. The final list was published by the Ministry in April 2023. Supplementary programmes are approved by the Ministry, the contracting of optional programmes is in agreement between the insurance company and the hospital.

Level I Hospital has the possibility to provide programmes from a range of 32 complementary programmes and 18 optional programmes. The hospital in Partizánske asked to provide 13 additional programmes, 11 of which were allocated to it. Myjava Hospital asked to provide 24 additional programmes, 12 of which were assigned to it. It is not possible to provide 7 medical programmes requested by the hospital at a given level (as they are so-called prohibited programmes, i.e. that Decree No 316/2022 Coll. does not allow them to be provided at that level).

Detail for the evaluation of hospitals and the inclusion of hospitals in Partizánske and Myjava in Level I: the Ministry, when creating a network of categorised hospitals, proceeded pursuant to § 10 (2) of Act No. 540/2021 Coll. on the classification of institutional health care, whereby the Ministry conditionally assigns hospitals to the network if they are met

In terms of meeting individual criteria at the Partizánski Hospital today there are not all mandatory level II programmes. In particular, the hospital does not provide, or does not provide, within the required scope and under the specified conditions, a program of abdominal surgery, a musculoskeletal program, a burn programme, a program of paediatric surgery, a program of paediatric endocrinology, diabetes and congenital errors of metabolism, a program of paediatric haematology and oncology and a program of paediatric immunology and allergenology. This means that in these programmes the hospital does not reach 20% of the level II average cases in the medical services covered by the programme level and thus provides little hospitalization cases. The Ministry took into account both 2019 and 2021 as part of this evaluation to take into account, as far as possible, the time fluctuations caused by the COVID pandemic.

The hospital in Partizánske also has deficiencies in the minimum special personnel requirements for programmes, namely: Traumatological Program, Musculoskeletal Program, Gastroenterology and Hepatology Program, Neurological Program, Neonatology Program, Children's Surgery Program, Paediatric Endocrinology Program, Diabetology and Inborn Errors of Metabolism and Paediatric Nephrology Program.

From the point of view of meeting individual criteria at Myjav Hospital today there are not all mandatory level II programmes. In particular, the hospital does not provide, or does not provide to the extent required under the specified conditions, a program of abdominal surgery, Gynaecological program, Musculoskeletal program, Burning program, Program of pneumology and phtizeology, Program of gastroenterology and hepatology, Nephrology program, Childbirth program, Children's Surgery program, Program of paediatric endocrinology, Diabetology and congenital errors of metabolism, Program of paediatric haematology and oncology and Program of Paediatric Immunology and Allergology. This means that in these programmes the hospital in medical services falling under the level of the programme does not reach 20% of the hospital's level II average cases and thus provided few hospital cases during the period. Myjava Hospital also has deficiencies in the minimum special personnel requirements for programmes, namely: Traumatological Program, Musculoskeletal Program, Program of Nevascular Interventions, Program of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Neurological Program, Neonatology Program, Children's Surgery Program, Paediatric Endocrinology Program, Diabetology and Inborn Errors of Metabolism and Paediatric Nephrology Program. In view of the above, the Ministry decided to include hospitals in Level I.

We take the petitions of the citizens of the region around Myjava and Partizánske with full seriousness, the incentives mentioned in the petition and the suggestions made during the negotiations we are dealing with. At the same time, we are actively communicating with hospital management. The objective of the Ministry is to increase the quality and accessibility of healthcare provision to citizens throughout Slovakia. We would like to stress that the concept of hospital reform leaves hospital level I the greatest flexibility in providing care in the width and spectrum according to the needs of the region in which they operate and the ambitions of hospital management. The hospital can thus profile in specific specialties beyond extensive outpatient care or overnight health care.

By sending a letter to the representative of the Slovak Republic informing him of the outcome of the petition, entitled "Peticia for the inclusion of the Hospital with the Polyclinic Myjava with the seat of Staromyjavská 59, 907 01 Myjava and the Hospital on the outskirts of the city, n.o., with the seat of the New Hospital 511, 958 01 Partizánske into the network of hospitals II. within the classification of hospitals" he considers the MZ SR petition to be equipped in accordance with the provisions of § 5 (6) of the Act on Petition Law.

Place: In Bratislava – Date:10 August 2023