Recent Development
On 23 June 2026, the Ministry of Health published the Regulation on the Provision and Coordination of Home Healthcare and Palliative Care Services (“Regulation”), and repealed the Regulation on the Provision of Home Healthcare Services. The Regulation sets forth the procedures and principles regarding the establishment and operation of home healthcare units and palliative care services.
Regulation applies to palliative care services provided in healthcare facilities affiliated with the Ministry of Health, universities, municipalities, and private healthcare institutions, as well as home healthcare services provided by public institutions and organizations.
The Regulation is available here (in Turkish).
The highlights of the Regulation are as follows:
- Central commissions, executive commissions, and registration commissions will be established within the Ministry of Health in order to ensure nationwide coordination of the services covered under the Regulation and to manage application, referral, follow-up, and discharge processes within a centralized structure.
- The planning, implementation, supervision, and coordination of home healthcare and palliative care services at the provincial level have been assigned to the Provincial Health Directorates, while overall planning is carried out by the Ministry of Health.
- Home healthcare service units are planned on a regional basis, taking into account service needs, patient numbers, geographical distribution, accessibility, and transportation conditions. In addition, it is envisaged that at least one central home healthcare unit will be established in each service region; and the establishment of additional satellite units is permitted in cases such as insufficient service capacity or geographical/logistical challenges.
- home healthcare service units are required to meet certain minimum equipment, device, medication, and physical condition requirements, and that these needs will be fulfilled by the affiliated healthcare facility.
- Palliative care services will be planned at both the national and provincial levels, taking into account service regions, population, existing capacity, and needs.
- In public healthcare facilities, palliative care bed capacity is limited by progressive ratios based on the total number of beds in the facility. Provincial Health Directorates can, where deemed necessary for service efficiency, adjust these capacity ratios and will notify the Ministry of Health of any changes.
- In university hospitals, palliative care beds are limited to 5% of the total capacity. Palliative care services in private healthcare institutions will be structured with a minimum of 5 beds. The total number of palliative care service beds cannot exceed 20% of the total number of intensive care beds within the healthcare institution.
- Within healthcare institutions, outpatient clinics for palliative care services will be established by the responsible administrators based on need; in healthcare institutions with more than one palliative care unit, multiple outpatient clinics can be established.
- In palliative care services, a service responsible physician, a coordination unit responsible physician, and a sufficient number of certified nurses will be assigned in line with the number of units or beds and the patient care needs. The number of nurses will be planned to ensure the uninterrupted provision of services on a 24-hour basis and to maintain an appropriate shift and on-call schedule. In newly established palliative care services, the certification requirement for nurses must be fulfilled no later than 5 years from the date the unit becomes operational.
- Care objectives will be determined by taking into account the patient’s clinical condition, expectations regarding quality of life, and the preferences of the patient or their relatives; consultations within this scope will be conducted face-to-face or, where necessary, through remote healthcare services. The patient and their relatives will be informed about the determined care objectives and the individualized care plan, their consent will be obtained, recorded, and electronically communicated to the relevant units.
- All actions and procedures carried out under the Regulation will be recorded in a digital environment, and, without prejudice to the exceptions set out under personal data protection legislation, the recorded data will be transmitted to the central health data system in accordance with the procedures and principles determined by the Ministry of Health.
- No unit can be established, no service can be opened, and no activity can be carried out within the scope of the Regulation without obtaining an operating license from the Ministry of Health.
- The re-certification procedures for home healthcare and palliative care units accredited by the Ministry of Health prior to 23 June 2026 will be completed in compliance with the provisions of the Regulation by 23 June 2027.
Conclusion
The Regulation aims to ensure that home healthcare services and palliative care services are delivered across the country in a standardized, coordinated, and auditable manner, and introduces detailed provisions regarding physical capacity, personnel qualifications, and process management in service delivery. In this regard, healthcare institutions providing home healthcare services and palliative care services are required to closely monitor and comply with the regulations introduced by the Regulation.
