ANALYSIS OF THE PUBLIC APPEAL HANDLING IN THE FIELD OF PUBLIC HEALTH PROTECTION AT THE REGIONAL LEVEL

Significance. Increasing involvement of patients in quality improvement of health care is a global trend. Appeals of the citizens to the state authorities are the easiest way to protect the rights of the citizens in the field of health care. The increased social activity of the citizens and transparency of the state authorities have determined the increase in the number of complaints and appeals of the citizens to the state authorities and medical organizations regarding provision of medical care. Handling appeals and complaints is a systemic problem of the Russian healthcare. Organization of monitoring over incoming information will make it possible to organize systematic work to protect the rights of the citizens in the field of health care, to improve health care quality and accessibility. The purpose of the study is to analyze organization of activities for handling appeals in public health protection at the regional level in order to develop proposals aimed at improving efficiency of appeals’ handling. Material and Methods. Material: official data of the Ministry of Health of the Chelyabinsk region. Research methods: mathematical and statistical; analytical (quantitative, structural, comparative). Results. A growth trend in the number of public appeals to the health executive authorities both at the federal and regional levels has been identified, including dynamics in the increase in the number of appeals related to the provision of medical care, financing and staff remuneration in medical organizations. Regional features of the structure of public appeals submitted to the Ministry of Health of the Chelyabinsk region have been determined. Results of the analysis of the appeal handling in medical chats in the Telegram messenger in 2022, as part of the “ZdravControl” project implementation have been presented. Conclusion. Results of the analysis of the public appeal handling in the field of public health protection at the regional level substantiate the need for developing a set of organizational measures to improve organization of care delivery in the region, and raising public awareness about their rights in the field of public health protection. Implementation of the “ZdravControl” project will make it possible to reduce the number of appeals submitted by the residents directly to the health executive authorities, as well as distribute the appeals by source and method of receipt.