Hospitals cut planned surgeries: NFZ counts 47 justified patient complaints

Hospital directors say this autumn is financially harder than last year's: for lack of money, some hospitals are already limiting planned procedures or may limit them in the near future. According to NFZ (National Health Fund) data obtained by RMF FM, patients have filed 47 justified complaints about restricted access to treatment. The most were in the Silesian (12) and Lower Silesian (8) voivodeships; there were no such complaints in the Łódź, Lesser Poland and Świętokrzyskie voivodeships.

The NFZ head office replies that it is receiving no signals of patient admissions being restricted because of the financial situation, and that justified complaints are isolated cases.

Meanwhile, the Public Clinical Hospital named after Prof. Orłowski in Warsaw has halved its planned surgeries. Its director, Tomasz Kopiec, says patients whose lives need saving are not at risk, while those who can wait will be rescheduled to next year. In early October the hospital received a contract annex covering October only. Łukasz Jarocki, spokesman for the Masovian branch of the NFZ, said contracts in the Masovian voivodeship will be secured until the end of the year, and the annexes for November and December 2026 will arrive shortly.