The Health Care Surveillance Authority (Úrad pre dohľad nad zdravotnou starostlivosťou in Slovak) was established by law to supervise and protect the rights of patients and clients of health care and nursing care providers, by exercising surveillance over the provision of health care and public health insurance.
How can it help you
Complaints regarding the proper provision of medical treatment or regarding the decisions of public health insurance companies
You can turn to the Health Care Surveillance Authority if you believe that health care was not provided to you properly or at a fair standard, and if you believe that the provider of the health care (hospital, physician) has failed to rectify the misdeed after you complained. You can file a complaint via one of the branches of the Authority operating in each of the 8 regional territorial units of Slovakia.
A concise information in English about the conditions of access to health care, drugs and medical devices in Slovakia can be found on the website of the Authority.
Activities
- Surveillance of health care and cursing care providers and control of the quality of healthcare services
- Supervision of public health insurance companies
- Acting as a liaison body for provision of health care covered by public health insurance system in relation to liaison bodies of Member States of the European Union, Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland and Switzerland
- Assigning codes to health care providers and health care professionals
- Maintenance of the central register of insured persons
- Carrying out toxicological examinations
Tasks related to supervision of sustainable public health policies are vested in a distinct institution, namely the Public Health Authority (Úrad verejného zdravotníctva in Slovak). The Authority operates in the fields of public hygiene including nutrition hygiene, food safety and cosmetics products, health protection against radiation and living environment hygiene, as well as epidemiology, safety of waters, occupational medicine, health promotion and health education. In 2020, the Authority plays a leading role in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.