Already at the end of September, the first patients will be able to benefit from comprehensive post-infarction care. The regulation, which is about to enter into force, will provide patients with treatments, rehabilitation and a follow-up visit without queues. It is estimated that up to 80 people a year will benefit from it, i.e. all those who suffer a heart attack in Poland.
Thanks to the changes, each patient after a heart attack will find out who can take care of their further care upon discharge from the hospital: from pacemaker implantation, through rehabilitation, to four cardiological consultations.
According to specialists, it is a very good solution. However, it will be necessary to conduct competitions and select centers that will conduct rehabilitation, because these are, according to cardiologists, the most lacking.
Currently, only 20 percent. people who need to be rehabilitated can benefit from it. In Mazovia, there are even fewer of these patients, only 10 percent. Thanks to the package, virtually every patient will be provided with comprehensive care immediately after leaving the hospital.
Specialists emphasize that a patient who has suffered a heart attack is in great shock and does not know exactly what happened and what is happening around him. It happens that he has trouble absorbing some information. Therefore, it is very important that on discharge from the hospital, he is informed who will continue to look after him and who will be responsible for further care.
The package that has just been introduced will cover all patients, including those who require angioplasty, coronary bypass or a pacemaker. The whole is to be supervised by one center and it will also be held accountable for the quality of care and the effectiveness of rehabilitation.
The first competitions for handling the package will be announced by the National Health Fund in the second half of July. The whole project will cost over PLN 36 million annually.