By: Moja Dolenjska
Prime Minister Robert Golob and Minister of Health Valentina Prevolnik Rupel have recently publicly praised the reduction in the number of patients waiting beyond the acceptable waiting time for medical services. However, in reality, this reduction did not occur; only the methodology for recording waiting times was changed. As a result, 68,333 patients were removed from the waiting list.
The government adopted a regulation last summer on appointment scheduling, waiting list management, and maximum permissible waiting times, which came into effect on August 1st, 2024.
With this regulation, the permissible waiting time for referrals marked as “very urgent” was extended from 14 days to 30 days. This means that a patient needing urgent care is now considered to be waiting beyond the acceptable time limit 16 days later than before – effectively extending their actual wait for treatment.
As a result, the government administratively removed 68,333 patients from the list of those waiting beyond the acceptable time frame. If the old methodology had been applied on September 1st, 2024, there would have been 150,523 patients waiting too long for healthcare services. However, under the new methodology, this number was significantly reduced to 82,190, according to data from the National Institute of Public Health.
