The ZOZ’s financial liabilities to creditors amount to PLN 26 million. Are the debts the result of improper hospital management? SP ZOZ director Dariusz Kłos believes that many problems stem from the fact that the hospital operates according to a system created years ago, now anachronistic, which prevents the use of modern economic solutions.
A manager in a white coat
"Today, the head of a hospital department and the doctors’ work are focused primarily on the treatment process, largely detached from economic reality. This results from the organization of the SP ZOZ and is not the doctors’ fault," explains Dariusz Kłos. "After the transformation, the head of a department will have a different role, becoming a kind of manager for the department. It will be possible to expand the use of contracts, in which, among other things, economic responsibilities can be specified. This, in turn, will make it possible to introduce stronger incentive systems, primarily concerning remuneration, but also the funds at the departments’ disposal," the facility’s director explains.
These benefits are supposed to become possible after the hospital is privatized. However, there is no reason to celebrate prematurely. Privatization will not bring revolutionary changes immediately. Many years will pass before the situation stabilizes.
"The moment the facility is transformed is only the formal beginning of the entire process, so initially little will change. Please remember that the transformation itself will not change the ZOZ overnight. The restructuring process will also continue after the transformation. It will last many years; for example, the projected repayment period for the liabilities is 11–16 years," says Dariusz Kłos.
A limited liability company hospital
The hospital’s structure will undergo major changes. Under the new rules, the founding body of the NZOZ will be a limited liability company. The majority of shares in the company will be held by the local government and the county, and possibly also by the city. A county council session has been scheduled for September 30, at which a resolution will be adopted on initiating the liquidation procedure for the SP ZOZ and transforming it into an NZOZ.
Will things get better?
One can only hope that, if not now, then in the future, the facility will operate according to normal principles and that the SP ZOZ director’s forecasts will not remain—as with many other projects intended to heal Polish hospitals—merely written on paper. For now, patients are getting lost in the chaos of ever-new proposals and reforms intended to cure the healthcare system, while hospitals are drowning in debt.