Overhaul for health system in the works

The radical overhaul of the National Health System (ESY), which, as stated by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, will be implemented immediately after the end of the pandemic, will be based on three central pillars, Kathimerini understands.

The drafting of the plan that is considered an emblematic reform for the government has been undertaken by Deputy Health Minister Vassilis Kontozamanis and will be implemented as soon as Greece’s coveted exit from the pandemic is achieved.

The first pillar of the plan entails a change of the emergency management model with the creation of independent emergency departments in all major hospitals around the country, which will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

It is also envisaged that these departments will be connected to the EKAV ambulance service, with the dual goal of an integrated network of pre-hospital emergency care in combination with the partial decongestion of the hospitals on duty. 

Secondly, hospitals will be divided into two groups, based on the so-called hub-and-spoke model, which wherever it has been applied has shown to be more efficient and economical.

The hub hospital will provide more specialized medical services with the spoke hospitals providing a supporting role and serving local communities.

For instance, a spoke hospital will have a surgical department, but very specialized heart surgeries will be performed at the hub hospital, which will have more specialized staff.

The follow-up and everything needed after such an operation will be done at the spoke hospital in collaboration with the hub hospital. 

A third pillar of the plan is post-hospital services with the development of rehabilitation services, home care and palliative care.