In 2019, 192,400 adults (15 and older) and 26,674 children (0–14 y) received hospital treatment. The number of treated adults in inpatient care decreased by 0.8% compared to 2018, but the number of children increased by 0.9%, while the number of day care patients increased in both age groups, according to data published by the National Institute for Health Development.
19,140 patients received long-term nursing care, a decrease of 3.7%. There are practically no children among nursing care patients.
The average length of stay in inpatient care was 8.3, and care in beds of the specialities for children were 3.5 days. One of those in need of longer treatment were patients with a mental and behavioural disorders who stayed in hospital for an average of 21 days. Patients of nursing care spent an average of 26.5 days in hospital.
13% of those requiring hospitalization were children (0–14 y) and 42% of patients were 65 years of age or older. The age distribution of patients is similar to the last few years. In the ten-year comparison, the share of people aged 65 and older has increased, both due to the occurrence of diseases requiring hospital treatment related to the aging population and the improvement of treatment options.
Last year, 83,677 adults and 8,374 children (0–14 y) were in day care. The number of day care cases has been growing steadily over the years, the number of both adults and children was also higher last year than year before (+3.5% and +0.6%, respectively).
Statistics about hospital and day care beds and hospital and day care patients in 2019 is published in Health Statistics and Health Research Database. Also, data about the hospitals that belong to the Hospital Network Development Plan (tables HH08, RV701, RV711) are available.