A shocking report about Polish psychiatry. Collapse and expenditures will decline even further
2025-10-11 12:00
publication
2025-10-11 12:00
20 percent Specialized psychiatrists take care of over 300 patients while on duty 24 hours a day, and 80 percent of them do not feel safe on duty – according to the report of the OZZL Residents' Agreement. The information collected in the study included, among others: to the Ministry of Health.
The Report of the Residents' Agreement, authored by the head of the organization, Sebastian Goncerz, Anna Depukat and Radosław Tymiński, was based on data from 825 surveys completed by doctors specializing in adult psychiatry, performing 24-hour shifts, and specialists working for up to five years after completing the training. This means that information for the report was provided by one third of all doctors undergoing specialization in psychiatry.
80 percent respondents admitted that they did not feel safe while on duty. This is due to, among others, too many patients treated by doctors.
Every fifth young psychiatrist takes care of over 300 patients during his shift. 16 percent – 50.
At the same time, every tenth respondent on duty has more than 10 organizational units (branches – PAP) under their care. The authors of the study noted that, according to the specialization program, it should be one department – in such a situation 3 percent subjects.
During specialization, doctors cannot always count on the support of a specialist on duty.
Two-fifths of them can always count on the presence of a specialist on duty, and every fifth respondent never has a specialist on duty. Meanwhile, according to the law, only a specialist can admit a patient to a psychiatric hospital without consent.
“I don't feel safe because I am alone, there is no specialist, there is a schedule of specialists on call, but some of them do not answer. During my duty, in addition to the wards, I cover the emergency room (including consultations and admissions of children) and I deal with the children's and adolescent ward,” wrote one of the medics in the survey.
– This situation is unacceptable and poses a significant threat to the health of our patients – emphasized the authors of the study.
Recommendations were attached to the report, including: limiting the number of patients to a maximum of 100 patients and one “acute admission” unit per doctor undergoing specialization while on duty; obligation for a specialist doctor to be on duty or on call with the need to travel; introduction of the obligation to have at least one heart monitor per ward in the basket regulations.
The report was sent, among others, to the Ministry of Health, the Ombudsman, the Patient Ombudsman, the Medical Center for Postgraduate Education, the Polish Psychiatric Association and a national consultant in the field of psychiatry.
Recently, the Association of Mental Health Centers reported that expenditure on psychiatry in 2026 will be PLN 1.2 billion lower than currently.
The report of the Residents' Agreement was published after a famous report by Wirtualna Polska about the hospital in Tworki, in which doctors working at this facility revealed irregularities that, according to them, had been taking place in the hospital for years. They told, among others: about staff shortages on duty, oxygen shortages in the hospital at the turn of the year and the situation in which, due to two resuscitations at the same time, over 700 patients were left without real access to the doctor on duty.
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