The nutritional rate in most Polish hospitals is PLN 5 per day. Hospitals that treat prisoners have a higher one. The worst situation is for cancer patients. As much as 90 percent of them are malnourished, which exposes them to complications after operations, chemotherapy, and longer hospitalization.
- Hospital food leaves a lot to be desired. There is a shortage of specialists in the facilities, and no one provides patients with a healthy, balanced diet
- According to the data collected by the Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs, hospitals spend only PLN 5 a day on food for patients
- According to the federation, the best menu is enjoyed by patients who go to the Independent Clinical Hospital. A. Mielęcki in Katowice, where the daily rate is PLN 15
– Nutritional rates for patients in hospitals, which are set by their directors, in most facilities amount to PLN 5 per day – the Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs is alerting. This is an unacceptably low amount for people who need to strengthen their body in illness or after surgery. The state is more gracious to prisoners in hospitals and spends XNUMX PLN more on feeding them.
Hospital diet
Many underweight patients complain that they lose even more weight in hospitals because meals do not provide them with enough calories. The regulations in force in Poland do not define nutritional standards in hospitals. Meanwhile, malnutrition of patients has a negative impact on the course of treatment and convalescence, extends the stay in the hospital and, consequently, increases the costs of treatment. The latest audit by the Supreme Audit Office on nutrition in hospitals showed that in many cases the caloric value of meals was disastrously balanced. All the menus did not ensure the proper nutritional value of the meals and the proper proportion of vegetables and fruit. The diet also showed deficiencies in cereal and dairy products, the sick were fed with low-quality cold cuts, and salt was abused.
Corn crisps for breakfast
During the ongoing hunger protest, one of the residents posted on the Internet a photo of the breakfast that young patients receive in a children’s clinical hospital in Warsaw. The caption for the photo read: That is why we are demanding 6,8 percent. GDP for health! The photo showed a plate with two slices of bread, a slice of terrible quality sausage, which is already known to increase the risk of colorectal cancer, four slices of green cucumber and the bane of dentists and nutritionists – that is, a few corn crisps. All because hospitals cannot afford to employ nutritionists. There is no legal regulation forcing the directors of clinics to do so. According to the Polish Dietetic Association, the presence of nutritionists is essential in the departments of internal, metabolic, endocrine, surgical and pediatric diseases.
Special nutrition
The Polish Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition is alerting that one third of patients in Polish hospitals are starving, not only because of the low nutritional rate. Some of them cannot eat due to their medical conditions, e.g. esophageal cancer. Others do not digest the food provided to them. Patients also do not eat, because they lose their appetite due to illness or taking medications. Meanwhile, hospitals use too little enteral nutrition and oral dietary supplements. In addition, patients often need to be fasting for diagnostic testing. Sometimes the diagnostics scheduled for the morning is moved to the afternoon or continued the next day. As a consequence, patients give up more meals. Doctors don’t ask them if they’ve eaten breakfast or lunch. Nobody weighs them either. And yet the need for nutritional nutrients in patients is greater, and proper nutrition allows for faster recovery. Purulent complications after surgery occur in 75% of patients. malnourished patients and only in 5 percent. eaten properly.
Good hospitals also feed well The Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs points out that although the prices of energy, fuel and food are rising, the nutritional rate in the hospital is still at the same level. – We estimate a further rolling increase in the prices of food products. We forecast that it will amount to 2018 to 15 percent by the end of March 20. – says Marek Kowalski, chairman of the Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs. This requires an increase in nutrition in hospitals. According to the Federation, the directors of good hospitals treating complex diseases know that an appropriate diet supports the patient. As an example, they give the Independent Clinical Hospital. A. Mielęcki in Katowice, where the daily rate is PLN 15.
You can read more about the diet of patients – mainly oncological ones – in Polish hospitals here.