In Brez ovir institute, we hosted a ministerial delegation from the Czech Republic, where there is no official law on personal assistance (PA) yet. A team headed by the Czech Minister visited us at our headquarters to find out how personal assistance is implemented here and to learn about examples of good practice.
The Czech Republic is planning to introduce a personal assistance system to enable people with reduced mobility to live independently. That’s why a delegation from the Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs visited Slovenia to see for themselves our local system of support for people with disabilities. We presented how we provide personal assistance through concrete examples at the Brez ovir Institute, and the delegation also met with users and representatives from the Slovenian Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities.
Minister Jurečka impressed by our PA system
Marian Jurečka, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic, explained, “We have come to Slovenia for inspiration. Based on your experience, we would like to introduce a similar system. In the Czech Republic, we already have a system in place to help people with disabilities who need assistance, but we do not have a system that allows users to receive 24-hour care.” This will soon change, the Minister said.
“We have already introduced a system similar to personal assistance, but it is not yet regulated by law, as it is in Slovenia. For the time being, our existing system is set up in such a way that it can only help a few hundred people. But we are aware that more than 10 000 people may need assistance. Personal assistance would be publicly introduced on 1 January 2025. Personal assistants would provide care at home, and the point of this system is to make it easier for people with disabilities to integrate more actively into society and the existing system,” Jurečka emphasises.
Brez ovir Institute as an example of good practice
Davor Knežiček, Head of Personal Assistance Coordinators at the Brez ovir Institute, presented how our PA system works in practice: “We are very honoured to have a delegation from the Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs visit us. They showed great interest in personal assistance and identified us as a partner from whom they can get all the information about the personal assistance system we practice here. We look forward to working with them in the future.”
Direktorica Zavoda Brez ovir Maja Babič se zaveda, da je vpeljava sistema OA v državi zahteven projekt, zato se je z veseljem odzvala na prošnjo češkega ministrstva, da nas obiščejo in se spoznajo z našim delom: »Osebno asistenco izvajamo že od samega začetka, od leta 2019. Nenehno se trudimo vzpostavljati profesionalno delovno okolje, kar se kaže v zadovoljstvu naših uporabnikov, obenem pa smo zrasli v enega največjih izvajalcev osebne asistence v celi Sloveniji. Delo vsekakor dobro poznamo in ponosni smo, da lahko naše izkušnje delimo naprej.«
Maja Babič, CEO of the Brez ovir Institute, is aware that the introduction of the PA system in the country is a challenging project, which is why she was happy to respond to the Czech Ministry’s request to visit us and learn about our work. “We have been providing personal assistance since the very beginning, in 2019. We are constantly striving to create a professional working environment, which is reflected in the satisfaction of our users, and we have grown into one of the largest providers of personal assistance in Slovenia. We know the work well and we are proud to share our experience.”
