Improvement of health safety in the Losice district and Ivano-Frankivsk city

The project involves cross-border cooperation between the Independent Public Health Care Center in Losice (Poland) and Central City Clinical Hospital of Ivano-Frankivsk City Council (Ukraine) in improving access to medical transport and diagnostics. The joint initiative responds to the problem identified in the joint strategy of the Interreg NEXT PL-UA 2021-2027 Programme, i.e. the growing number of people in the post-productive age and thus the ever-increasing need for healthcare. A particular area of concern is medical transport, which is most often used by seniors with limited mobility, including residents of rural areas, who find it very difficult to get to hospital due to the poor bus network/lack of a car. The project involves investment in public services to improve the well-being of an ageing population and mitigate the effects of adverse demographic changes on the population of the project partners' catchment area. Investment and education activities in the organisation of medical transport also support the resilience of health care systems in Poland and Ukraine, as they allow good access to health care facilities in crisis situations, such as war or the COVID-19 pandemic. In crisis situations, access to state emergency teams is limited, so hospitals and local governments through their autonomous actions can improve it. The main objective of the project is to improve access to medical transport and diagnostics in the Łosice district and the city of Ivano-Frankivsk. As a result of the project, the hospital in Losice will modernise and extend the hospital building with regard to the ambulance ramp and the adjacent surgical clinic, so that patients are helped as quickly as possible after arriving at the hospital by ambulance. In addition, the Polish hospital will, as a result of the project, replace one obsolete ambulance and three colonoscopes and gastroscopes with a video track each, which are used for the diagnosis of patients admitted to the reception area. Hospital in Ivano-Frankivsk has planned to purchase 2 ambulances as part of the project, (one of which will be equipped with a mobile X-ray machine for the rapid diagnosis of patients) and portable USG for diagnosis of patients in ambulances. The ambulances will be directly used for emergency medical services in the city and surrounding areas, including to help those affected by warfare. The project will have a positive impact on access to medical transport and imaging and endoscopic diagnostics among the inhabitants of the Polish-Ukrainian border region, in particular the Łosice district and the city of Ivano-Frankivsk, with a total population of nearly 260,000, of which nearly 90% are inhabitants of the Ukrainian city. Through cooperation, the project partners will improve access to medical transport and diagnostics in their areas of operation, while increasing the quality of medical infrastructure. Ukrainian language training has also been planned for the medical staff of the Losice Hospital, so that better medical assistance can be provided to the Ukrainian population in the Losice district. Residents of the Losice poviat and the city of Ivano-Frankivsk will have the opportunity within the framework of the project to enjoy educational events in the form of picnics, which will familiarise them with the principles of medical transport - both in their area of residence and in crisis situations such as war. At the same time, education will be provided on the proper use of emergency medical team calls, in view of the large number of unnecessary ambulance calls. The project will also have a multiplier effect - as a result of the project, a set of procedures will be created to be applied in situations of inefficiency of the state rescue system i.e. in emergency situations. In addition, a lesson handbook will be prepared for use by Polish and Ukrainian schools on the circumstances of calling a medical emergency team.