Right care, right time, right place: how Lithuania transformed cardiology care
(Original story published by WHO: http://www.who.int/features/2016/lithuania-transforms-care/en/)Long wait times to see specialists. Poor coordination between family doctors and hospitals. Duplicated tests. And some of the highest rates of heart disease-related death in Europe.They were some of the challenges facing Lithuania 20 years ago, particularly in the country’s eastern region, where mortality from heart disease and stroke was highest, especially among middle-aged men and women outside major cities.Health officials concluded that many of the problems patients experienced in getting the care they needed stemmed from the way services were organized and provided. Specialist cardiology centres were overstaffed while regional hospitals were understaffed, particularly in rural areas. As a result, patients typically sought out specialists, even for routine matters, cutting primary care providers out of their traditional roles as first contact providers and treatment coordinators. A failure to collaborate left family doctors ...