How does the Health Ministry want to improve the National Oncology Network?

However, changes have already begun, as at the end of July the National Health Service announced a list of entities qualified for the various levels of the network, allowing the health ministry to launch a competition for oncology worth PLN 5.5 billion. As Konrad Korbinski said, the money is intended to improve the quality of oncology patient care and - the goals are, of course, related - for hospitals to meet the network's target, higher than current qualification criteria.

In parallel, the ministry is discussing changes to the law. One of the key points is the e-DILO card. - The issue is the lack of provisions for the e-DiLO card, which is not only a carrier of information about how the diagnostic and treatment process is carried out, but also a tool that allows coordination of this process. It is also supposed to make the work of oncologists easier by automating the entry of certain data, which is important, because quality monitoring will involve a greater administrative burden on doctors, Director Korbinski explained.

From the patient's point of view (but also from the point of view of systemic efficiency), the revolutionary change is to be the continuity of care. At the moment, the law's provisions focus on the process of hospital treatment. They do not cover primary care, rehabilitation, or follow-up care, which is crucial for oncology patients, and which should be provided at the level of specialized care, but also in primary care. - Therefore, we will be supplementing the provisions of the law - coordinators will be responsible for ensuring continuity of care from early diagnosis to completion of treatment and follow-up care. Ultimately, we intend to monitor the entire process using the e-DiLO card," the MZ representative announced.

The organization of the network itself also faces major changes. One of the axes of criticism was the verticalization of NSOs - and the health ministry wants to move away from it. - In our opinion, the verticalization does not take into account the fact that often centers classified in lower levels of reference due to the areas implemented do not have lower competencies at all. They have simply specialized in certain scopes. Therefore, any entity qualified for SOLO should have independence, and this is what is supposed to promote cooperation. The regulator will not indicate the model or form of this cooperation, because it does not always have to be formalized, it will only indicate the direction," Korbinski explained.

However, the fate of "flattening" the network is uncertain. The Ministry would like to abandon the SOLO III level, but whether this will be possible at the moment is unknown. The approval of the European Commission is needed, as the NSO has been included in several milestones and the money from the KPO is supposed to flow to the hospitals of the three levels. So perhaps this step will be carried out in the next stage. - The finale of the talks with the EC is not yet known, but if we can't simplify the network now, we will do it as soon as possible, the official argued.