Ensuring sustainability of health care in emergencies

Resilience of the health system depends on effective coordination between the actors involved, adequate provision of material and human resources and the ability to increase them where necessary, a flexible approach to healthcare delivery. The audit carried out by the National Audit Office on “Ensuring sustainability of health care in emergencies” showed the areas highlighted by the pandemic that need to be strengthened most in order to ensure the resilience of the country’s health system. 

“As our audit shows, when organising the management of the pandemic, the Ministry of Health has addressed the emerging problems, however more effective management of the situation requires strengthening the processes of providing human and material resources to the health system,” says Jolanta Indriulienė, the audit team leader. 

According to a public opinion poll, there have been cases in which one third of the population did not seek medical care during the pandemic, even though this was necessary. The most common reasons for not seeking were queues at doctors (16.7 %) and impossibility to call the reception of the medical institution (14.1 %).

According to the auditors, increased use of private medical institutions and the training of health professionals linked to potential emergency risks could help to manage the COVID-19 pandemic more effectively. There should also be an improvement in the process of stockpiling and deploying medical supplies. 

Medical institutions should pay more attention to compliance with infection control requirements, patient registration and detection of adverse events, monitoring of feedback/opinion of patients.

Following this audit, the National Audit Office issued recommendations, the implementation of which will contribute to improving the sustainability of the country’s health care system in the long term, by improving the preparedness of medical institutions and health professionals to operate in emergency situations and increasing the efficiency of the stockpiling and distribution of medical supplies.