The Ministry of Health of Latvia strongly proposes to transition to a three-level hospital system. This is outlined in the ministry's report project "On the Hospital Network," submitted for public discussion.
It is proposed to transition from the current five-level system to a three-level hospital system — multidisciplinary, regional, and local. In particular, regional hospitals will provide emergency care in internal medicine and surgery, while local hospitals will offer basic therapy, care for chronic patients, and palliative care.
In addition, the Ministry of Health wants to reduce the number of patients in hospitals. To achieve this, they plan to introduce unified criteria for patient observation to avoid unjustified hospitalizations. Services for observation will be developed, which will help reduce unnecessary hospitalizations and improve the efficiency of care.
What is Happening Now
Currently, Latvia has a five-level hospital system — it defines what services and to what extent each hospital is required to provide. Here are these levels:
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University Hospitals — for example, Stradins Hospital and the Eastern Hospital (formerly "Gailesers"). They treat everyone and everything.
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Regional Multidisciplinary Hospitals – for example, Daugavpils, Liepaja, Ventspils, and Jekabpils hospitals. They provide emergency care, surgery, therapy, gynecology, pediatrics, as well as a number of specialized services.
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Local Multidisciplinary Hospitals – for example, hospitals in Tukums, Aluksne, and Ogre. They provide basic inpatient services — therapy, minor surgery, obstetrics, and rehabilitation.
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Local Hospitals with Limited Profiles – they provide basic therapeutic care, monitoring of chronic patients, and nursing. They do not always have 24-hour reception.
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Long-Term Care and Chronic Disease Hospitals – they specialize in caring for patients who require long-term treatment, palliative care, and rehabilitation.
Why Is This Necessary
The reform is initiated considering the limitations of the state budget, the ministry noted.
The ministry emphasizes that the reform of the hospital network is necessary because Latvia still lacks medical personnel, and the capabilities of several hospitals to provide round-the-clock duty are insufficient.
A project conducted last year showed that some hospitals are already unable to provide emergency care in full due to a lack of staff.
