Health Committee: Need deputy minister solely responsible for mental health of Poles

After media reports at the end of September about the critical situation at the Tworki hospital and the report prepared by the OZZL Residents' Agreement (more than 800 young doctors commented on the survey), the time has come for a discussion in the Sejm.

Deputy Health Minister Tomasz Maciejewski, presenting the ministry's perspective, recalled that psychiatry is on the list of priority specialties. Since 2015, the number of training places has increased from 1,736 to 2,386. The number of specialists in psychiatry itself has also increased: from 3,388 to 4,341. "According to the analysis of health needs, the coming years will see the largest increase in the number of specialists of all medical fields. It is estimated that by 2028 the number of psychiatrists will increase by about a thousand specialists," Tomasz Maciejewski said. According to the deputy minister, there should be one psychiatry specialist per 40 beds, and if all residents were on duty - one doctor would secure twenty patients. During the more than two-hour discussion, the fact that psychiatric hospitals are mainly or almost exclusively staffed by residents on duty resonated strongly, as specialists are not keen to do so.

- Only a third of residents start on-call after the first year of training, the vast majority start earlier. We should implement the so-called accompanying on-calls, that is, those lasting five hours and under the supervision of a specialist. These are realized by 80 percent of residents. We should always have the opportunity to consult with a specialist during on-call duties performed during training. One-fifth of residents in psychiatry have no such opportunity at all," said Sebastian Goncerz, chairman of the OZZL Residents' Agreement. The information that hit the imagination of MPs the hardest was that there are cases when a doctor in the course of specialization has three hundred or more patients under his care. The MPs pointed out that the OZZL PR report indicates not only violations of standards of patient care, but also - of training principles. There should be inspections in both cases - of provincial consultants or CMKP. The Health Ministry reported that such inspections are commissioned and ongoing, but Marcelina Zawisza (Together) pointed out that she had already asked the national consultant in psychiatry some time ago for information on how many inspections he had initiated and conducted on his own initiative.

Co-author of the report, Dr. Radoslaw Tyminski acknowledged that the issue of control is crucial, but it is equally important for the ministry to define - as it has in the field of obstetrics - organizational standards for psychiatric hospitals. Only then can quality and safety in these entities be expected to improve. Safety for patients, but also for medical staff.