Notification of the outcome of the Pet 9/2023 petition

The petitioner shall: Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic

Name of the petition:
–Petition for the maintenance of emergency services for children and adolescents in Orava Polyclinic Námestovo"

It's quare: No.

Number of persons supporting the petition: 22,424

Date of delivery: 26.07.2023

Date of equipment: 06.09.2023

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

Reason for equipment:
On 26.07.2023, the submission was delivered to the mailing office of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic marked as " Delivery of Petitions for retention of emergency services for children and adolescents in Orava Polyclinic Námestovo – addressed to MZ SR. The submission was accompanied by 2 498 petition sheets designated as the "Petition for the Conservation of Emergency Services for Children and Adolescents in Orava Polyclinic Námestovo" with 22 424 signatures of persons who supported the petition in question. Identical documentation was forwarded to MZ SR from the Government Office of the Slovak Republic and Žilina Self-Governing Region.

The documentation received was received by the MZ SR and after assessing the content and formalities of the documents received, namely the submission of petitions for the maintenance of the emergency services for children and adolescents in the Oravská poliklinika Námestovo and petition sheets in documentary form marked as "Petition for the maintenance of emergency services for children and adolescents in the Oravská poliklinika Námestovo" with the signatures of 22 424 persons in the context of the provisions of the Act on petition law registered as petitions under the. zn. Pet 09/2023, which has the nature of the request.

Since the petition received is in the nature of the application, the Ministry of the Slovak Republic, as a public authority responsible for its execution, is obliged to arrange 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 working meeting took place on 21.08.2023 in the Slovak Republic.

In accordance with the above provisions of the law on petition law of MZ SR as a public authority materially competent to handle the petition, he submitted the following reply to the representative.

Reason for the intention of the proposal
The proposed amendment of the Decree establishing catchment areas and fixed points for the ambulance of fixed outpatient emergency care was prepared in cooperation with a professional company representing primary paediatricians, with the main expert and regional experts of MZ SR for general outpatient care for children and adolescents. The proposal was prepared in close cooperation and at the initiative of primary paediatricians themselves, who for several years highlight the unsustainable personnel situation in primary paediatrics. It should be seen in the context of the overall personnel crisis of primary paediatricians in the Slovak Republic. According to the preliminary results of the state of the network in 2023 (official results in terms of the legislative terms of MZ SR published by 30.06. of the relevant year) in Slovakia lack 20% primary paediatricians (229 doctors) and each second paediatrician is in retirement age. In the near future, the current network with half the pediatricians at retirement age will be unsustainable.

Objective

The MZ SR proceeded to this adjustment, pursuing the main goal of keeping in operation the ambulance of primary paediatrics during the day. Without primary paediatricians in ambulances, it is not possible to operate outpatient standby. This measure is a stabilisation measure of primary paediatricity in the Slovak Republic. We approach the call of more than 600 primary paediatricians (out of about 1 000 primary paediatricians in Slovakia) with full respect, and we want to prevent the collapse of primary paediatrics in Slovakia as a whole. Over the last period, several primary paediatrics have been phased out, with regions losing primary children's daily care, which may result in regional inaccessibility of primary healthcare.

Principles and baselines
The main purpose of the present proposal is to maintain the availability of APS operations for children and adolescents while respecting the limited personnel capacities of primary paediatricians at present. Consolidation of the APS fixed point network is based on two basic principles:

• a) concentration of limited personnel capacities of primary paediatricians in sustainable groups or teams in optimal numbers, 15 primary paediatricians and reduce their burden;
• (b) the location of the APS in a place where there is also urgent reception, or where there is a paediatric compartment, to ensure the continuity of other health care components where necessary. It is a way to keep available and functional APS in the regions of Slovakia for the next period.

Data base

1. Size of adapted catchment areas - takes into account the population of the child population (18 + 364 days) in the region

Source: Statistical Office of the SR

International recommendations define the optimal number of children per fixed point of 50,000 children. For primary paediatric care and APS, the baseline is the absolute number of people living in the region.

1. Real numbers of treated patients after 20.00 at fixed points APS

Due to the fact that the data interface for reporting APS providers (dose 751a) does not have an item power time, only the date of performance, a direct on-site survey was carried out at individual fixed points by the doctors themselves who serve at given fixed points. The period under review was March 2023. At most fixed points, the number of treated patients varies between 0 and 2 at 20:00. The overall result is that on average 2% of visits are made between 7:00 and 8:00 hours and 1% between 20.00 and 22.00 hours.

1. personnel capacity and age composition of primary pediatricians at a fixed point

1. Impact on potential burden on secondary fixed points or urgent revenues

Possible concerns about the transfer of APS visits to urgent revenues were not confirmed by the last regulation in 2018. A comparison of the number of visits to APS and emergency incomes in 2018 and 2019 showed a decrease in the annual number of visits to APS for children and an increase to 1 000 insured persons by 7%, APS for adults by 19%, while increasing the number of visits to institutional emergency services by 4%. In total, however, APS visits and urgent revenues decreased by 5% per 1 000 insured persons.

The proposed scheme only defines for 3 catchment areas a catchment area with a population greater than the recommended 50,000 children, namely:
fixed point Bratislava – 151 232 children
fixed point Košice Þ 78 313 children
fixed point Prešov – 59 204

This adjustment is without prejudice to the very definition of outpatient emergency care according to which APS is defined as healthcare provided to a person who is not immediately in danger of life. Outpatient emergency services are not due to severe conditions such as asthma attacks or serious injuries, such patients are immediately treated for urgent hospital income.

Additional APS

This proposal is without prejudice to the possibility provided by the current legislation of the possibility of establishing an APS supplementary point within the meaning of Section 8a of Act No. 576/2004 Coll. on health care, health care services and amending certain laws. According to the provisions in question, the provision of an additional outpatient emergency service is provided by an operator in a catchment area where a fixed point for which he is authorised to operate an outpatient emergency room for adults or a fixed point for which he is authorised to operate an outpatient emergency room for children and adolescents. The additional outpatient emergency service shall be provided to the organisers continuously for at least two hours on working days between 16.00 and 22.00 on a continuous basis, within at least two hours on duty days between 7.00 and 22.00 when the organiser is authorised to operate an outpatient additional emergency service.

The regulator determines the network of fixed points APS, but if the organizer decides to operate in its catchment area, the current legislation allows it to do so. The obligation of primary pediatricians to serve in APS applies only to fixed points. Personnel security at the APS additional point is fully within the responsibility of the organizer.

Communication
MZ SR presented this proposal in February 2023 at the level of SK8 and then in March 2023 at individual meetings with representatives of individual self-governing regions.

By sending this letter to the MZ SR to inform you of the outcome of the execution of the petition called "Peticia for maintaining the ambulance of emergency services for children and adolescents in Oravská poliklinica Námestovo" , the MZ SR considers the petition to be equipped in accordance with the provisions of § 5 (6) of the Act on petition law.

Place: In Bratislava– Date:8 September 2023