Belgium has many intensive care beds but this hospital service lacks structure in its current configuration, estimates the Federal Center for Health Care Expertise (KCE).
In a summary on the organization and financing of intensive care, it pleads in favor of a two -level structure covering on the one hand of general intensive care, on the other hand of specialized intensive care.
Whether in times of crisis, such as that of COVID 19, or in normal times, intensive care may still be strongly solicited in the future due to the aging of the population. And as staff are rare, it is important to gain in efficiency.
This sector is currently very fragmented in Belgium, resulting in “ineffective use of means, quality differences and less good collaboration between hospitals”, points out the KCE.
A two -level organization
The Center reform proposal is based on an organization of intensive care in two levels: a general and a specialist, with each of the explicit approval criteria.
“These two levels must make agreements between them to organize the collaboration and the transfer of patients. Staff, infrastructure and other available resources may be better aligned with demand for care, and patients can be more quickly directed to the unit adapted to their situation, “explain the authors of the synthesis, specifying that such a distribution already exists in many European countries.
Each intensive care unit should have at least 12 beds.
Experts also propose to review the financing of health care and develop a national database in order to obtain a rapid overview of the number of occupied beds, the severity of the condition of patients and the available staff.
This reorganization must be part of “a wider overhaul of the hospital landscape, which is currently in preparation”.
