Rehabilitation waiting lists can stretch to nearly two years, says NRC "Vaivari"
A patient who suffered a stroke and underwent several surgeries has been left waiting indefinitely for sanatorium rehabilitation, as NRC "Vaivari" explains that patients with chronic conditions may wait up to 20 months.
A reader of LA.LV named Laine contacted the newsroom to complain about long waits for rehabilitation. After a six-month wait to see a rehabilitation specialist, she tried to register for treatment at the Vaivari day centre, but was not admitted to the waiting list at all last year. This year she was placed on the list, but when she asked about timing, she was told she would only receive information next year. She has undergone both back and knee surgery and suffered a stroke, and all her doctors' assessments state she needs rehabilitation in sanatorium conditions.
Waiting times vary
Inese Švarca, head of the Treatment Department at the National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) "Vaivari", explained there is no single shared waiting list for all patients — separate lists are formed for each service according to the patient's rehabilitation stage and the medical priority set by a physician. As of August 1 this year, adults in the acute and subacute stages at the outpatient clinic's day hospital faced waits of up to four months, while patients with chronic functional limitations waited up to roughly 20 months. At the Riga outpatient clinic, acute-stage service was available without waiting, subacute cases waited up to a month, while chronic patients waited up to 16 months.
Priority, not registration date, determines order
Švarca said waiting-list length depends on state funding, demand, specialist availability, and programme duration. A patient's place in line is not determined by registration date but by priority set by a physical and rehabilitation medicine doctor — acute and subacute patients receive higher priority since timely rehabilitation prevents irreversible functional limitations, while chronic patients may face longer waits.
Possible solutions
The centre regularly assesses patient flow and specialist workload, but any significant reduction in waiting lists depends on state funding levels and specialist availability. Patients also have the option of paying for rehabilitation privately, which is usually available considerably faster than state-funded services. Information on the availability of state-funded services is available at rindapiearsta.lv.
