Warsaw – Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk unveiled a reshuffled cupboard on Wednesday, appointing Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda, a seasoned healthcare government and former head of Pomorskie Hospitals, as the brand new Minister of Well being. This transfer is seen as signalling a technocratic shift in well being coverage.
Tusk thanked outgoing minister Izabela Leszczyna for her management on the Ministry of Well being, which she had led since December 2023. He famous that the ministry now requires “purely substantive work” and pledged that “all the ministry shall be depoliticised.”
Tusk added that the brand new well being management will oversee Polish hospitals and different entities within the sector, focusing totally on sensible, results-driven reform on the floor stage. “The only goal shall be to enhance the scenario of sufferers. And I’ll say this very bluntly: not the development of docs’ scenario, however the enchancment of sufferers’ scenario,” the prime minister stated.
Tusk emphasised that each one outgoing ministers deserved recognition and thanks for his or her service, and that he considered their work positively.
“Minister Leszczyna has carried out a really exceptional job,” he stated, pointing particularly to her success in unblocking funds from the Nationwide Restoration Plan (KPO). “We managed to organise billions of złoty in assist for the Polish healthcare system, shortly and painlessly, via numerous devices and European funds,” he added.
Early priorities
One of many principal challenges shall be reforming the healthcare system, significantly hospitals, with the consolidation of medical services because the cornerstone of reforms.
“There’s an ongoing debate throughout the medical group on this subject, and systemic circumstances favour consolidation,” Sobierańska-Grenda stated in an interview for the well being portal Focus o Zdrowiu, pointing to examples from throughout Europe the place hospitals operate as built-in networks.
“Sufferers do not care what authorized type a medical facility has. What issues is whether or not they can obtain providers financed by the Nationwide Well being Fund, the standard of these providers, the experience of the specialists, the state of infrastructure and whether or not fashionable applied sciences are in use,” she defined.
On the similar time, the minister emphasised that consolidation have to be manageable and requires domestically developed compromises. Good communication with employees and sufferers will even be key to the success of any reform.
Monetary issues and the remuneration of healthcare professionals are one other space the brand new Minister of Well being might want to handle.
Throughout a dialogue on the Well being Challenges Congress, she acknowledged that though the wage reform launched a number of years in the past has had advantages, significantly for nurses, the system as a complete wants restructuring.
She famous that public discussions about salaries too usually focus solely on tax ranges, whereas the duties borne by healthcare professionals are equally vital.
Tusk additionally acknowledged that he expects fast progress within the space of digitalisation. Though the introduction of e-registration was one of many authorities’s flagship guarantees for its first 100 days, the system has but to be carried out.
“Everyone seems to be starting to know that an enormous alternative for Polish sufferers lies in complete digitalisation of our whole healthcare service,” Tusk stated, including that the federal government’s aim is to drastically speed up work on this space.
Lawyer, not physician
Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda is the primary hospital director and non-medical physician to move the Ministry of Well being in Poland. She is a skilled lawyer and authorized advisor, having graduated from the School of Legislation and Administration on the College of Gdańsk.
Beforehand, she labored in native authorities, initially on the county stage as Secretary of Malbork County and later on the regional stage as Director of the Well being Division of the Marshal’s Workplace of the Pomeranian Voivodeship.
She brings a observe document of hospital restructuring and consolidation to the function, having overseen the transformation of regional services into commercially viable entities. Her management at Pomorskie Hospitals included mergers not solely inside single possession constructions but additionally with the Scientific Centre in Gdańsk, affiliated with the native medical college.
Sobierańska-Grenda holds an MBA in healthcare administration and lectures on government programmes for medical professionals at establishments together with the Leon Koźmiński Academy and Łazarski College in Warsaw. In 2024, she earned a doctorate from the College of Gdańsk, specializing in hospital effectivity.
Her analysis demonstrated that working 4 separate hospitals was financially unsustainable in comparison with a unified mannequin such because the Pomeranian Hospitals group. The research additionally recognized scalable processes that may very well be carried out nationally.
“As soon as, ‘hospital restructuring’ was my passion,” Sobierańska-Grenda stated throughout her acceptance speech for the Lady of the Well being Market Award 2025. “I did it to point out that what appears not possible, I can handle to do,” she added.
[Edited by Vasiliki Angouridi, Brian Maguire]
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