Doctors limit working hours

During the Tuesday press conference of the Polish National Trade Union of Doctors and the new chairwoman, Grażyna Cebula-Kubat, the report "Doctor as an employee 2020-2022. How the labor market is changing" was presented, based on two surveys conducted in cooperation with the portal Medycyna Praktyczna. The first study was conducted in February 2020, so just before the pandemic.

HRM checked both how and where doctors work and what mainly motivates them to work in a public or private system and what, possibly, the public system would have to provide financial conditions for doctors to agree to work exclusively. In recent months, PiS politicians - incl. Vice-chairman of the Health Committee Bolesław Piecha - suggested that a solution was being prepared that would guarantee specialists a "fair" salary - we are talking about amounts of the order of three gross national averages - provided that they resign from work in the private sector (and in a more radical version, under the condition of working only in one facility).

Would doctors agree to such a solution? Only a few percent of them definitely say no at the moment. The majority specified a salary level (in terms of the basic salary, excluding on-call duty and allowances) that would induce them to work only in the public sector. It is worth noting that the HRM launched the survey after Jarosław Kaczyński said in the middle of summer holidays: - A doctor can earn a lot of money. I don't want to annoy anyone here, but also 60,000 or even 80,000 a month.It may outrage some of them, but be it that way, but on one condition: that she works only in this one place, and not that she is very tired, because We're about to earn more money. This can't be a race.

The largest group of doctors (45%, interestingly enough, the same number indicated the same amount two years earlier) chose the option of PLN 15-20 thousand (net). Only 10 percent. set the rate at PLN 30-40 thousand, and 9 percent. for PLN 10-15 thousand (in 2020 it was as much as 32 percent). It can be interpreted that doctors are not as "greedy" for money as politicians believe (although of course their final earnings depend on the number of shifts, so the amounts given are not final). But the study shows something more: the greatest motivators to work in the public system, from the point of view of doctors, are the possibility of professional development and the possibility of better treatment of patients. These in turn, in two years, worsened in the public and slightly improved in the private health care system. On the other hand, significantly fewer doctors (10% in 2020, 4% in 2022 indicate that remuneration is the factor that motivates them to work in public institutions).

Why do doctors combine working in a public and private system? Half of them say it is for financial reasons. But when asked for details, they also indicate that the private sector ensures better organization of work, a friendlier attitude towards employees and - generally - a better atmosphere. These are areas that, in turn, are not a strong point of the public sector.

The study also showed that doctors began to cut back on working hours. - Doctors want to work less, also have their private life and at work the opportunity to focus more on the patient. Doctors want to treat the patient as a partner, they want a treatment process that is more qualitative and safe for the patient and the doctor - said Grażyna Cebula-Kubat. - Work in the public sector is becoming less and less attractive for a doctor. The organization of work and the attitude to employees as well as the context of remuneration that a doctor can obtain on the private market are discouraging - commented Anna Gołębicka, economist, communication and management expert, presenting the results of the study.