Slovak Republic

Demographic information  (Statisticky urad SR)

• Inhabitants: 5,424,925
• No. of citizens 65+: 665,134
• No. of citizens 75+: 283,845
• No. of people with long-term care needs: about 110,000

Characteristics of health, social and long-term care delivery

Important competencies in the field of long-term care are held by the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic, and the relevant infrastructure (bodies of specialised state administration, communities, towns, higher territorial units, providers of social services). Financial allowances to compensate social impacts of severe disabilities as well as care allowances are provided from the state budget through Offices of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, and also through bodies of specialized state administration. Key actors in providing social services are, however, communities and self-government regions (local and regional self-governments). Communities and self-government regions assess client’s dependency on social services (depending on classification by relevant degree of dependency) and at the same time, they assure, establish and provide for social services. Clients of social services providers include, however, not only older older persons with LTC needs but also younger, severely disabled persons and some other categories of the population. 

Financing of health care (and within it also some parts of long-term care) is provided for by the system of public health care insurance (administered by three health insurance companies), and the performance of health care providers is paid  by this system (at least to the extent of the public minimal network of providers). Participation of private resources is low.

A simplified illustration of LTC provision in the Slovak Republic

Download here a simplified illustration of possible LTC pathways for Mrs. L.T. Care.

Background information on key-issues

The role of informal care in LTC

Hegyi (2007, 2008) defines long-term care as provision of complex medical, nursing and custodial services for a longer period or a long-term period, in some cases as a permanent care. Slovak legislation, however, does not define terms, such as “long-term care”, “informal care sector” or “formal care sector”. After 2006, the term “long-term care” has explicitly been mentioned only in the document “National Report on Strategies of Social Protection and Social Inclusion”, in which it is instrumentally defined as “social services, care allowance and direct payment for personal assistance” (The National Report, 2008: 63). Based on this definition and its components, it is possible to implicitly derive also a definition of formal and informal sectors of care, in particular in connection with older persons
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Governance and financing of LTC

In Slovakia, long-term care is provided mainly through the system of social services complemented by increased attention paid to older persons in the health care system. Nevertheless, the main burden lies on family and informal care-givers. Therefore, social services are organised so that they would help persons receiving long-term care and their families as much as possible - and for the state and the self-government to a financially acceptable extent (more ...)