There will be no pay rises in POZ
Published July 20, 2022 10:00
Departure of Primary Healthcare personnel or bankruptcy of underfunded primary care facilities already today !!! - in this opinion, the doctors of the Healthcare Employers' Alliance are at risk of undercutting the amount of funds necessary to cover salary increases in POZ.
- The adopted methodology is unrepresentative and indicates a misunderstanding of the importance of primary health care in the health care system and the financial needs of its staff. Once again, we were treated as the least important link, which is not only outrageous, but surprising! After all, according to the Ministry of Health, it is the Basic Healthcare that is to be the driving force behind health protection in Poland! - comments Bożena Janicka, president of PPOZ.
Outrage among PPOZ doctors was caused by the recommendation published on the website of the Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Tariffication on changing the method or level of financing health care services in the scope of undercutting the amount of funds necessary to cover salary increases in Primary Healthcare.
As emphasized by health care practitioners - an increase of 6.26 percent for primary health care services is expected, which is the lowest of all percentage increases - more than two times lower than the current annual inflation rate. For comparison, for similar night and holiday health care services (which are statutorily part of POZ), not 6.26%, nor 12%, but as much as 23.61 !!! percent increase.
- We consider this treatment of POZ to be deeply unfair, and besides, the data collected by the Agency used to prepare the recommendations are selective and unrepresentative - data were collected from only 6.14% of entities (in other groups it was at least 43, 32 percent). The selectivity of the collected data means that they cannot be a source of final recommendations, but only a starting point for negotiations with service providers and the final decision of the Minister of Health and the President of the National Health Fund as to the amount of increases in POZ - emphasizes Bożena Janicka.
Doctors of the Healthcare Employers' Alliance warn that the inability to meet the statutory obligations to raise the salaries of primary care personnel may mean the end for many, especially smaller Primary Healthcare facilities.
- Staff who do not receive pay rises regulated in the "statutory range" will leave the health care centers to other health care facilities, and in the event that the employer has to raise their salaries, there will be a real threat of closing down severely underfunded clinics, especially the smallest ones. Critically low percentage increases for increases are not able to meet the provisions of the "wage increase act" - health care center doctors are alerting.
During the meeting (19 July) organized by the NFZ Headquarters with the participation of the Minister of Health Maciej Miłkowski, the Director of AOTMiT and the NFZ Presidents Filip Nowak and Bernard Waśko, together with the representatives of the NFZ - after another careful analysis of the data - PPOZ service providers maintained their position in their entirety, expecting real coverage of wage increases also in Primary Healthcare. They point out that the lowest wage growth rate among all is unacceptable, if only because night and holiday health care - which is a statutory part of POZ - has a three times higher salary increase than the POZ itself!
In this case, PPOZ doctors wrote to the Minister of Health, Adam Niedzielski and Filip Nowak, the President of the National Health Fund: “The pay rise act should financially strengthen the entire health care staff, and not discriminate against employees of POZ facilities. The current proposals, which are too low to increase the salaries of POZ employees, will only deepen the staff shortages in the area of poviat and commune Poland, where the availability of health services for patients is essential "- they alarm in their position.
...- Considering the atmosphere of anxiety among the staff about the increase in salaries and the above, we propose to make the salary increase real also for employees providing benefits in POZ - bringing the POZ closer to, for example, its statutory part, i.e. night and holiday health care. Further talks are necessary, the effects of which will be satisfactory for all social groups. It is not too late - emphasizes Bożena Janicka.
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