Many people have been asking me about the information that has recently appeared in the public sphere concerning the merger of the hospitals in Bolesławiec and Zgorzelec. One article on the portals even stated that the social councils of both healthcare institutions (in Bolesławiec and Zgorzelec) had agreed to the hospitals merging. I do not know about the social council in Zgorzelec (not to be confused with the county council), but the social council at St. Łukasz Hospital has not made such a decision.

The lack of details about the merger is worrying

At the meeting on 8 December 2025, we reviewed the concept (a very loose one—I would actually call it an idea) of merging the hospitals. There was no discussion of details, nor were we shown any document, apart from assurances that nothing would change in Bolesławiec (for the worse), that things would only get better, that a second (or third) hospital in Lower Silesia would be established, and so on. That is why I supported the concept at the social council meeting, while pointing out that I was waiting for details. Until now, however, the details have not “arrived”.

In theory, a good idea

As a principle, the idea of merging the hospitals does not have to be bad. It does not have to be, in keeping with the principle that those who do not develop move backwards. Indeed, in our case, taking all the circumstances into account, one may conclude that a large hospital will have an easier time. A large hospital should have greater leverage with the payer (NFZ), find it easier to recruit staff, and enjoy several organisational advantages (although there would also be disadvantages). It should also be more resistant to any attempts to shut it down or reduce the number of beds.

Worse in practice

So much for theory. But what does it look like in practice? Well, things are worse here. Articles heating up the issue are being published every now and then. But nothing serious. There is a lack of substantive discussion and of what I would call good faith that those carrying out the merger are doing so in our (the patients’) interest.

When I asked the County Starost about the hospital merger during the county council’s October session, he replied that, in fact, nothing was happening on this matter, only to be “corrected” by the director of ZOZ about a week after the statement, who said that they had already been working on merging the hospitals for around a year (sic.).

Then there was a meeting of the social council at ZOZ, where a “concept” was presented to us—which, in my view, was more a collection of ideas. And now we have information from Zgorzelec that the merged Bolesławiec–Zgorzelec hospital will have its headquarters in Wrocław.

Is the headquarters in Wrocław a sinecure?

Except that Wrocław would be a kind of sinecure for someone (I do not know whom), because the hospital management is supposed to be in Bolesławiec or Zgorzelec. We need to understand that a new hospital will be created after the merger. St. Łukasz Hospital in Bolesławiec will disappear and a “merged” hospital will be established. It will be an entirely new entity.

It will also have a new governing body that will take over the rights and duties of the county councils—the so-called council of representatives of the founding entities—consisting of the Bolesławiec County Starost and the Zgorzelec County Starost: two people (!). The councils of both counties will lose influence over the hospital’s operations, including changes to its statutes (and thus the definition of the hospital’s scope of activity), and it turns out that it will no longer be a hospital in Bolesławiec and Zgorzelec, but one in Wrocław.

Will access to medical services improve? Not necessarily

Looking at this as a patient, I ask whether the merger will improve access to medical services. There is one answer to that question: not necessarily, because everything depends on limits and funding.

This will not directly affect patients. If there are queues for hospital care in Bolesławiec and in Zgorzelec, the merger will not help here. What will improve? In very general terms, one could say that the financial situation of the merged hospitals will improve. Whether this will mean that patients’ situation improves, let everyone answer for themselves. As a councillor, I do not know whether I want one of the largest employers in the county to move its headquarters to Wrocław.

Nor do I know whether the hospital that is supposed to receive a major “development boost” through the merger, and that has been here forever, was raising the Wrocław region’s standing through its performance indicators. Given how sensitive and difficult this issue is, one would like the county authorities and the director of St. Łukasz Hospital to present the public with one coherent message concerning the actual concept—that is, a plan for what the merger is supposed to look like and what the hospital will look like after it.

Questions about the two institutions’ harmonious cooperation

Perhaps this article will bring that about.

  • Let them answer the question of why we are merging with the hospital in Zgorzelec (and not, for example, with the hospital on Tysiąclecia Street in Bolesławiec).
  • What benefit will there be for patients if a nationwide central registration system is introduced? (As patients wishing to use, for example, ophthalmology services at the merged hospital, we will still have to travel to Zgorzelec, so what will change?)
  • What direction will the hospital in Bolesławiec take, and what will we change?

The format of this article does not allow me to ask the many questions that arise. I know that mathematics is ruthless and that the majority on the council will do whatever it wants. I simply do not know whether this ruthlessness should deprive us of our hospital and move it to Wrocław.

Apparently, this solution is dictated by the fact that neither side wants to agree to the hospital’s headquarters being located on the other side. The people of Zgorzelec do not want the headquarters to be located here (I have confirmed that). Apparently, we do not want the headquarters to be located in Zgorzelec.

The starosts (politicians) do not want to suffer politically. Yet they are strange local-government officials if, after reading the latest PAN reports describing Bolesławiec as a town losing its socio-economic functions, they so eagerly move the hospital to Wrocław. But if we cannot reach an agreement with our partners, then what can one say...

I wonder, however, whether, if we cannot reach an agreement with Zgorzelec on this matter, we will be able to reach agreements on others. Soon it may turn out that “my position is the most right of all”, and more things in the merged Wrocław hospital will have to be moved to Wrocław.

P.S. On 28 January 2026, I received a reply to my interpellation concerning the merger and the hospital’s headquarters. And I learned that the merger of the hospitals in Bolesławiec and Zgorzelec would result in … the “Multispecialist Healthcare Complex in Wrocław—a self-governing public healthcare institution”. It will conduct its activities mainly in Zgorzelec and Bolesławiec counties. Nice, isn’t it?