Doctors ask the Supreme Audit Office to carry out an inspection of the valuation of services

This conclusion is directly related to the situation that has arisen in recent months at the University Children's Hospital in Krakow - Prokocim, where over 70 doctors submitted their dismissals, thus protesting against the conditions in which the hospital operates. They constitute - in their opinion - a threat to the health and life of patients, and are caused by too low valuation of health services provided by the hospital to small patients and reimbursed by the National Health Fund. This too low valuation causes the hospital to constantly incur debt, and in many cases, the more services it provides, the greater the losses it incurs. This may motivate people to limit the provision of some services to sick children. In addition, directors forced to make extraordinary savings, most often make them by reducing employment, which causes the quality of medical care to decline. The medical staff deficit makes it difficult to properly care for the sick and supervise their treatment, it also fosters mistakes by overworked staff and poses a threat to the patients' safety.

This is not a local problem of the hospital in Prokocim, but a nationwide problem, concerning all University Children's Hospitals in the country. Doctors from these hospitals pointed out this and intervened in the Ministry of Health in 2018, creating the USD Doctors Alliance for this purpose. The talks undertaken at that time, with the participation of hospital directors, were quickly abandoned by the minister of health, which only aggravated the difficult situation of these hospitals and their patients. In connection with the above, on December 2, 2021, doctors of Children's University Children's Hospitals in Poland called on the Minister of Health and the President of the National Health Fund to increase the valuation of health services provided by these hospitals. However, in the opinion of the Minister of Health and the representatives of the Fund, the financial situation of Children's University Hospitals in Poland is getting better and the improvement in the valuation of services provided by these hospitals has already taken place in recent years. In view of the above - in the opinion of HRM - it becomes necessary to assess who is right on both sides of the dispute: whether the doctors and the director of USD in Krakow, who say that the valuation of services is too low and does not cover the necessary costs, or the ministry Health and the National Health Fund, maintaining that the valuation is appropriate. At the same time, it is not about anyone's "victory" in the dispute, but about taking appropriate actions aimed at the health and life of young patients treated by these hospitals.

The National Board of OZZL, Krzysztof Bukiel - chairman of the Board