Serious data were presented by the invited guests at the XXV Annual Conference of the Hungarian Association of Outpatient Specialised Care in Balatonalmadi. Both the Hungarian Chamber of Specialists and Medicina 2000 raised the urgent problems with fresh data, and the MOK and the Hungarian Hospital Association also supported the position. Péter Takács, state secretary for health, said the surveys were contradictory and specialised clinics were not performing well. The assessment of the situation by the policy-makers and the profession showed some signs of confusion in Babel. Perhaps never before has the traditional annual conference on outpatient specialist care organised by Medicina2000 been as topical as it was this year. Recently, the anomaly of specialised practices has caused quite a stir in public opinion and in the profession. Wage increases and the way they are being handled, human resource shortages, but perhaps most of all waiting lists, have been the main focus of attention on outpatient specialty care in recent weeks and months. It was also an opportunity for the National Patients’ Association to present its work over the past 12 years, its achievements and its vision for the future. The presentation by the President, Zsuzsanna Bernáth-Lukács, was received with great interest and a series of questions.