Comparison of drug prescribing before and during the COVID‐19 pandemic : a cross‐national European study

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on health care, with disruption to routine clinical care. Our aim was to describe changes in prescription drugs dispensing in the primary and outpatient sectors during the first year of the pandemic across Europe. Methods: We used routine administrative data on dispensed medicines in eight European countries (five whole countries, three represented by one region each) from January 2017 to March 2021 to compare the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic with the preceding 3 years. Results: In the 10 therapeutic subgroups with the highest dispensed volumes across all countries/regions the relative changes between the COVID-19 period and the year before were mostly of a magnitude similar to changes between previous periods. However, for drugs for obstructive airway diseases the changes in the COVID-19 period were stronger in several countries/regions. In all countries/regions a decrease in dispensed DDDs of antibiotics for systemic use (from −39.4% in Romagna to −14.2% in Scotland) and nasal preparations (from −34.4% in Lithuania to −5.7% in Sweden) was observed. We observed a stockpiling effect in the total market in March 2020 in six countries/regions. In Czechia the observed increase was not significant and in Slovenia volumes increased only after the end of the first lockdown. We found an increase in average therapeutic quantity per pack dispensed, which, however, exceeded 5% only in Slovenia, Germany, and Czechia. Conclusions: The findings from this first European cross-national comparison show a substantial decrease in dispensed volumes of antibiotics for systemic use in all countries/regions. The results also indicate that the provision of medicines for common chronic conditions was mostly resilient to challenges faced during the pandemic. However, there were notable differences between the countries/regions for some therapeutic areas

Right to equal protection of rights in the construction matters

Gradbeno dovoljenje je odločba, s katero pristojni upravni organ, po ugotovitvi, da je nameravana gradnja v skladu s prostorskim aktom, da bo izpolnjevala bistvene zahteve in da z njo ne bodo prizadete pravice tretjih ali javni interes, dovoli takšno gradnjo in s katero predpiše konkretne pogoje, ki jih je treba pri gradnji upoštevati. Namen naloge je predstaviti pravno ureditev postopka izdaje gradbenega dovoljenja ter opozoriti na problematiko in ovire, ki se pri tem pojavljajo predvsem z zornega kota upravnega organa, ki mora izdati pravnomočno gradbeno dovoljenje. V magistrskem delu sem uporabil metodo deskripcije, zgodovinsko metodo, metodo kompilacije, primerjalno metodo in metodo dedukcije. Ugotovitve v magistrskem delu so, da ni ključni problem v neustrezni pravni ureditvi postopka izdaje gradbenega dovoljenja, temveč v tem, da zakonodaja temelji na predpostavkah, ki v praksi žal velikokrat niso realizirane. Največ težav povzročajo nedorečene ali neusklajene zakonske rešitve (lahko nejasne določbe tako v zakonu in podzakonskih aktih) ter ne dovolj jasni, nenatančni in nezanesljivi prostorski akti ter nestrokovno in pomanjkljivo izdelana projektna dokumentacija, ki ne daje zadostne opore upravnemu organu za izdajo pozitivne odločbe. V magistrskem delu sem se posvetil raziskovanju pridobitve gradbenega dovoljenja pri nas po novi zakonodaji in ureditvijo gradbenih dovoljenj v Avstriji, na Hrvaškem, v Italiji in v Nemčiji. Slovenija je primerljiva z drugimi evropskimi državami na področju obsežnosti pravne regulacije ter rokov za pripombe stranskih udeležencev in za izdajo odločbeA building permit is a decision by which the competent administrative authority, after establishing that the intended construction is in accordance with the spatial act, that it will meet the essential requirements and that the construction will not affect the rights of third parties or public interest, allows such construction and prescribes concrete conditions to be considered during construction. The purpose of the task is to present the legal regulation of the procedure for issuing a building permit and to draw attention to the problems and obstacles that arise mainly from the point of view of the administrative authority that must issue a valid building permit. In my master\u27s thesis I used the descriptive method, the historical method, the method of compilation, the comparative method and the deductive method. The findings in the master\u27s thesis contribute to the understanding of the key problem, which does not deal with the inadequate legal regulation of the procedure for issuing a building permit, but with the fact that the legislation is based on assumptions, which unfortunately are often not realized in practice. Most problems are caused by vague or inconsistent legal solutions (possibly unclear provisions in both the law and by laws) and insufficiently clear, inaccurate and unreliable spatial acts and unprofessional and insufficiently prepared project documentation, which does not provide sufficient support to the administrative body to issue a positive decision. In the master\u27s thesis my research activities focused on obtaining the building permit in Slovenia under the new legislation and regulation of building permits in Austria, Croatia, Italy and Germany. Slovenia is comparable to other European countries in terms of the scope of legal regulation and deadlines for comments from side participants and for issuing a decision