The first European cross-border health care centre opened between Lower Austria and Czechia on 16 October 2021. The centre will allow citizens who live in these border regions to access a multi-professional team of medical and therapeutic experts for their outpatient treatment.
Created within the framework of the European Union’s Healthacross Initiative, the new centre is the latest milestone in a long-standing collaboration between Lower Austria and regions in Czechia and Slovakia to promote cooperation in health care.
It means that those people living in the once divided cities of Gmünd/České Velenice can now access the hospital in Gmünd regardless of which side of the border they live on. Given the rural nature of the area, health care choices are limited with the nearest hospital on the Czech side otherwise 60 km away.
Bringing health care closer
The centre aims to bring comprehensive primary health care as close as possible to patients, both generally and in specialist areas, such as nursing, physiotherapy, speech therapy and social care. These objectives align with the aim of the Healthacross Initiative to ensure that basic medical needs of cross-border populations are met.
In planning the health care centre, all stakeholders were involved both in the site analysis and in discussions with local health authorities to identify its ideal location. Personnel requirements and the professional groups needed for the operation of the centre were defined. These included doctors, nurses, occupational therapists and physiotherapists.
Implementation and operation
The health care centre, which is located on the border between Gmünd, Lower Austria, and České Velenice, Czechia, covers a wide range of health services, including preventive health care and treatment by general practitioners, specialists, nursing experts and therapists. It can also be used for training and events.
Taking a biopsychosocial approach, the centre covers the physical, mental, emotional and social needs of its patients. It could serve as a model for similar cross-border collaboration between other border regions in Europe.