At the beginning of December, there was a lot of talk about a teenager from the Pomeranian Voivodeship who, instead of being admitted to a children’s psychiatry ward, went to the HED, where she spent several hours. At that time, doctors were looking for a place for her in the departments in Świecie and Gniezno. Ultimately, the teenager ended up in an overcrowded ward at the Provincial Psychiatric Hospital in Gdańsk. Such situations will happen more and more often.

Children’s psychiatry ward in Srebrzysko in trouble

The disastrous situation of the children’s psychiatry ward at the Provincial Psychiatric Hospital in Gdańsk has been discussed for a long time. It is the only facility in the Pomeranian Voivodeship that takes care of children with mental problems. A 12-year-old woman who reported to the ward because she had attempted suicide in the past and now also declared her willingness to take her own life, was unable to get help for several hours. There are 35 places at the branch in Gdańsk. At present, there are 46 patients there, 11 on extra beds and mattresses arranged in the corridors. It was also where the teenager ended up. You could say she was lucky. Her friends who will need help after the new year will probably have to look for it in another voivodeship. Why? In mid-November, all psychiatrists from the children’s psychiatry ward at the hospital in Srebrzysko submitted their dismissals. At that time, in agreement with the provincial authorities, the management of the hospital decided to suspend admissions of underage patients.

As Lidia Metel-Czarnowska, spokesman for the hospital explained in an interview with the portal trojmiasto.pl, “these findings were preceded by a thorough and reliable analysis of the situation in the ward and the lack of basic conditions to ensure not only an adequate level of treatment, but most of all safety”. Doctors who submitted the dismissals stand by their decision. If the situation does not change and there are no new ones replacing the departing doctors, the ward will be closed at the end of February 2020.

Problems of the children’s psychiatry ward in Łódź

Another facility that is struggling with serious problems is the children’s psychiatry ward at the hospital. Babiński in Łódź. It is the only branch in Lodz that accepts only children between 3 and 13 years of age. According to the head of Aleksandra Lewandowska, the National Health Fund pays for 22 beds in the ward, and currently there are 35 patients there. In an interview with RMF FM, Anna Leder from the National Health Fund in Łódź argues that the hospital has signed a contract for two hospital departments in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry. One for 26 beds and the other (from 2018) for 13 beds. She also added that the hospital can count on reimbursement of the costs of all surpluses.

At the moment, at least eight months are waiting for admission to the children’s psychiatry ward in Łódź. This year, the branch faced the threat of closure once. However, the management managed to obtain additional money and ensure the continuity of the branch’s operation. This is only a temporary solution. The hospital cannot afford another debt.

See also: Every fifth child in Poland has mental disorders. And it will get worse

Over 14 children on one bed

Not only the Pomeranian and Łódź voivodeships have a problem with overcrowded child psychiatry departments. This is due to the fact that in Poland there are dramatically few beds in these wards. Currently, approximately 600 children are waiting for admission to departments all over Poland. The “Wachdog” civic network issued a report in which it collected the most important data on the condition of Polish child psychiatry. Among other things, she calculated how many children (0-18 years old) were in each place in psychiatric wards in a given voivodeship. The information provided by the National Health Fund was taken into account.

How does it look like? Children from Podlaskie Voivodeship are in the worst situation. There is no children’s psychiatry department in their place of residence. Further we have:

  1. Wielkopolskie voivodeship – 50 beds, which means 14 children per bed,
  2. Małopolskie voivodship – 50 beds, which means 13 children per bed,
  3. Podkarpackie Province – 24 beds, which means 13 children per bed,
  4. Świętokrzyskie voivodeship – 18 beds, which means 12 children per bed,
  5. Opolskie Voivodeship – 18 beds, which means 9 children per bed,
  6. Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship – 43 beds, which means 9 children per bed,
  7. Zachodniopomorskie voivodeship – 36 beds, which means 8 children per bed,
  8. Silesia Province – 95 beds, which means 8 children per bed,
  9. Lublin Province – 52 beds, which means 7 children per bed,
  10. Pomeranian Voivodeship – 26 beds, which means 6 children per bed,
  11. Mazowieckie voivodship – 186 beds, which gives 5 children per bed,
  12. Warmińsko-Mazurskie voivodship – 60 beds, which means 4 children per bed,
  13. Łódzkie voivodeship – 106 beds, which means 4 162 children per bed,
  14. Lower Silesia Province – 135 beds, which means 3 children per bed,
  15. Lubuskie voivodship – 90 beds, which means 2 155 children per bed.

Comparing the number of beds in 2019 to that in 2018, there were no changes in most establishments. In the Małopolskie and Pomorskie voivodeships it increased slightly – in the first one from 43 to 50, in the second from 71 to 76. In Wielkopolskie it decreased from 56 to 50, and in Śląskie from 103 to 95.

Young patients are already looking for a place in child psychiatry departments in neighboring voivodeships or waiting several months for a bed in the ward to become vacant.

The entire report is available at: https://siecobywatelska.pl/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/raport_6.pdf

Commentary on the dramatic situation of Polish child psychiatry

We asked the drug for a comment. Bartosz Fiałek, the chairman of OZZL in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. Fiałek is actively working to improve the working conditions of doctors and residents in Polish hospitals. He is also no stranger to the problem of staff shortages and shortages of beds faced by child psychiatry.

– We currently have 441 practicing child psychiatrists (data from NIL). Shortages of doctors, health care financing disproportionate to the needs, poor organization of the public health care system, uncomfortable and unergonomic working conditions and inadequate wages mean that more child psychiatry departments are being closed. This poses a direct health risk to children and adolescents in need of hospital assistance. Already, according to estimates, nearly 600 young boys and girls are waiting for hospitalization. In June this year, we received information that a minor patient placed – due to the lack of a target ward – in an adult psychiatry ward, was raped by another adult patient undergoing treatment in this unit. The lack of children’s psychiatry departments has a two-way dimension: on the one hand, the lack of hospitalization in needy patients puts them at risk of loss of health and life, and on the other hand – placing them in adult departments may cause them a different kind of danger.

According to Fiałek, not only child psychiatry but the entire public health care requires urgent, multi-directional and long-term changes.

– It is certainly necessary to immediately increase funding to a sufficient level, improve the working conditions of specialists in child psychiatry, due to significant staff shortages, use them only for strictly medical and not administrative duties, and above all use a system of incentives to attract as many young adepts of medicine as possible to this difficult field of medicine. Failure to act in the above-mentioned areas will further deteriorate the availability of health services and will expose an even greater number of children and adolescents, who need urgent help from child psychiatrists, to loss of health and life – he explains.

The 13rd Congress of Civil Rights will be held on December 14 and XNUMX. One of the topics discussed during the panels will be “Psychiatric care for children in Poland – a call for help”. The Ombudsman intervened, inter alia, on the psychiatric ward for children in Gdańsk. He also emphasized many times that the crisis of the psychiatric care system for children and adolescents has been a problem on a national scale for a long time.

Editors recommend:

  1. Rebellion confused with depression. Watch your baby
  2. Mom, Dad, I want to die!
  3. NIK warns: in Poland we have a problem with treating depression. Suicides are rising

If you need help, use the free helpline for children and adolescents, tel. 116 111 (open daily from 12:00 to 02:00) or the free helpline for children and adolescents of the Ombudsman for Children 800 12 12 12 (open from Monday to Friday in hours 8.15-20.00).

You haven’t been able to find the cause of your ailments for a long time? Do you want to tell us your story or draw attention to a common health problem? Write to the address [email protected] #Together we can do more

Leave a Reply