Home care in Slovakia.

Home nursing care is an important and inseparable part of individual long-term healthcare. The need of complex home care in Slovakia has an increasing trend both for clients/patients and for healthcare workers. Inquiries show that as many as 90% of citizens prefer to have health and social care provided within their own home settings. Due to the fact that the number of old people is increasing worldwide, including Slovakia, old people will be the only age group with a growing number of inhabitants in the nearest future. We should be aware of a significant fact that the number of people over 65 years, i.e., of those in need of health and social assistance, is continuously expanding and will form the largest group. As old age is typically associated with advanced stages of chronic diseases requiring treatment in form of follow-up and nursing, the support of complex home care development in Slovakia is of great importance. The aim of home care is to provide complex care in coordination with ambulatory and institution-based care as well as with provision of care services. In 2008, the home nursing care expenditures in Slovakia amounted to EUR 9.3 million (Tab. 1, Ref. 18).