According to the Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia, it is contrary to the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia, which within the framework of the welfare state guarantees the right to social protection, namely under the same conditions to all those who urgently need adequate support and care services to ensure their survival, if said support and care is objectively not available because the system does not have sufficient capacities.

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In 2023, the Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia (Ombudsman) also received complaints from individuals whose health prevented them from returning home after completing hospital treatment, but it is not possible to guarantee vacancies in the social security services system. In addition to all the other consequences, the most obvious one is that the individual occupies a much more expensive health service for the system and also makes it impossible for the health system to treat someone else who actually needs medical treatment.

After years of the Ombudsman's warnings, however, there has been a shift – a new ministry is now in charge of the issue. In November 2023, the Ministry of Solidary-Based Future (MSP) explained that in order to solve the problem of accepting persons who, in a stable state of health, need continuous medical care and more demanding medical and technical procedures and interventions, and therefore, as a result, increased staffing standards in the field of nursing care, it had appointed on 27.10.2023 an interdepartmental working group for preparation of starting points for the establishment of care units within social welfare institutions. The working group, in which, in addition to representatives of the MSP and the Ministry of Health, representatives of the Community of Social Welfare Institutions of Slovenia participate, is expected to prepare by the end of November 2023 the starting points for the establishment of care units within social welfare institutions and a proposal for the programme for placement in the General Agreement for the contractual year 2024 or into the regulation, which will determine the programmes of compulsory health insurance services, the capacities necessary for their implementation, and the amount of funds for 2024. The list of providers of care units within homes for the elderly will be determined by the decision of the minister responsible for institutional care. In 2024, the goal is to establish care units with at least two providers. Therefore, the working group also has the task of monitoring, until the end of October 2024, the progress of the establishment of nursing units in which the treatment of persons will be carried out, in accordance with the prepared Starting Points, and, if necessary, to prepare a proposal for the renewal of the Programme for 2025.

The Ombudsman will monitor the fulfilment of the above-mentioned assurances and encourage that, with the pace of expansion of the scope and range of various assistance services, we as a society not only follow the trend of growing needs in society, but also slowly eliminate the lags in development that have been accumulating in the field for decades. 9.7-12/2023