Survey: Slovak hospitals have bad food

Patients lack quality accommodation and food in hospitals and they also don't like the way how the premises are cleaned up, TASR learnt from a survey conducted by the largest private health insurance company Dôvera. However, there were positive findings, too. People questions tended to be satisfied with the attitude of health workers towards hospitalised patients as well as how they are informed about the status of their health. The survey was carried out on a sample of 6,300 patients who were treated in one of Slovak hospitals last year. "None of the patients polled evaluated the expertise of doctors or the treatment methods used, however, everyone is able to assess the quality of accommodation, attitude of staff and their condition after returning home," Dôvera general director Martin Kultan told a press conference on Tuesday. Patients evaluated hospitals as they would in school, i.e. using a five-point grading scale [1 being the best possible grade and 5 the failing grade]. "The average grade of 1.66 suggests that patients gave similar grades compared to the previous year," noted Kultan.