Supervision of the health care provision

Procedure for supervision of the provision of healthcare

According to the provisions of Article 17 of Act No. 576/2004 Z. z. on healthcare, services related to the provision of healthcare and amending certain acts (hereinafter “Act No. 576/2004 Z. z.”) if a person believes that he/she received defective healthcare, or believes that another decision of a treating healthcare professional in connection with the provision of health care or services related to the provision of healthcare was defective, he/she has the right to request remedy from the healthcare provider (executive/director). The request must be filed in writing. If the healthcare provider does not comply with the request or does not inform the complainant without delay on the procedure for dealing with the request, the complainant has the right:

a) to ask the Health Care Surveillance Authority to carry out supervision in accordance with the relevant legislation if the request concerns defective provision of healthcare, 

b) to contact the body competent to perform supervision (the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic, a self-governing region, one of the associations of healthcare professionals) if the subject matter of the request is another decision of a attending healthcare professional in connection with the provision of healthcare or services related to the provision of healthcare

According to Article 18(1)(b) of Act No. 581/2004 Z. z. the performance of supervision by the Authority involves supervision of the proper provision of healthcare in accordance with Article 4(3) of Act No. 576/2004 Z. z.

If a person files a complaint to the Authority, it must contain:

1. identification data on the patient (name, surname, date of birth, address, contact details),
2. identification data on the provider (name, address),
3. the problem, a description of the situation at the time of the event,
4. the date, the complainant’s signature in his/her own hand.

If a filed complaint concerns the treatment of a relative who has not died and the author is not the patient’s legal representative, the patient’s written authorisation must be attached to the complaint.

A complaint may be delivered in person to the Authority’s registry, or by post to the following address:

The Health Care Surveillance Authority

Žellova 2

829 24 Bratislava 25

It is also possible to contact branches of the Authority, which are located in the main towns of the eight self-governing regions.

The Authority will investigate the complaint by carrying out supervision and inform the complainant of the results on its investigation in writing.

If the Authority finds that the provision of healthcare was defective, it can impose the following penalties on the health care provider:

• a fine,
• ban from practising a medical profession.

If the Authority finds other deficiencies in the activity of the health care provider it can submit a request to a competent body to:

• impose a fine,
• temporarily suspend authorisation to provide healthcare or to terminate authorisation for running a medical facility,
• suspend a licence for a limited period or revoke it,
• commence disciplinary proceedings.

The Authority is not competent to decide on compensation.