Public health minister wants to limit stays in hospital

Federal minister of health Maggie De Block is calling on home care associations to start trial projects that help new mothers and their babies stay in hospital for shorter periods and recover from the deliveries at home. The minister is also considering projects that organise such treatments as kidney dialyses and chemotherapy in patients’ homes.

The trials are part of the reform of the hospital financing system, proposed by De Block and included in the federal government agreements. An important aspect is reducing the amount of time that patients stay in hospital – sometimes unnecessarily long, according to the minister.

Belgians stay in hospital an average 7.2 days compared to 6.3 days in other Western European countries. “We are examining how the duration of the hospital stay can be limited in the future,” health ministry spokesperson Els Cleemput told Deredactie.be. “But this cannot be carried out without strengthening the home health care and making sure that the care in hospitals and the care at home complement each other.”

The ministry has asked trial projects should start by the beginning of 2016. They will be evaluated in 2017.