Polish hospitals and the medical system

Ive just completed a four day stretch at my local Polish hospital, i admitted myself at 4:00 am in agonizing stomach pain. The treatment I recieved upon a arrival, followed by swift diagnosis and then operation was absolutely superb. All staff were excellent and i didnt even hand over a penny in bribes.

The condition was appendicitis.

Credit were credits due, I was most impressed and obviously they basically saved my life. I would probably rate their system superior to that of England in many ways.

I've heard the same from both Poles and Brits with experience of both. Granted, as a foreigner from a high prestige country your experience was probably better than some everyday Poles get, but not necessarily hugely better.

Two weeks ago my girlfriend had to spend five days in hospital in Warsaw. It was utterly dire. They didn't have a bed for her so she spent all but the last day on a trolley in the corridor. After five days of tests they could tell her what was wrong with her but not why. The level of hygene in the hospital was nothing short of disgraceful, just two examples: no toilet paper in the toilets (which stank so badly you were pretty much crying by the time you got out due to the ammonia) and no soap to wash your hands with after going to the toilet (plus old-fashioned taps which needed to be held between thumb and two fingers to be turned). Everything needed a damn good clean but nothing got it.

Since then I've upgraded our medical insurance to include hospitalisation.

The hygiene is not always the best in public hospitals. You often have to bring your own toilet paper etc. They like to do surgical operations even if the medical indication for such operation is questionable.

But generally the medical knowledge is very high. And they take things seriously and do proper investigations. For less serious things they usually examine you more, do more tests etc. than in many Western European countries. They also admit more people to hospital than in WE, even for less serious conditions.

But they hygiene is the major problem. You are more likely to get nosocomial infectious complications here than in WE.

It all really depends on if you were in a public or a private hospital : )

That is common i have read you need to bring your own, this was not the case where i was treated. My wife was in a different hospital for a few days a couple of weeks ago, she had no toilet paper and no hand wash soap, also the food she was served was extremely basic with little nutrition and extremely repetative. My hospital had great food, freash bread, great soup, i even saw a full meal with all the trimmings being served, i was not allowed this due to my condition.

It was a new state hospital.

Was that the new one in Wroclaw?

This was the main teaching hospital in Warsaw, which is supposedly one of the best in the city, or at least certainly one of the better ones. The food was every bit as bad as what your wife had and only sometimes came with cutlery!

No, a smaller hospital down south.

Must admit it was a little sketchy being taken into a room knowing they were going to slice me open. The anaesthetist spoke pretty good English and seemed to know what he was doing, not that i had a choice in the matter. Of course i had the added bonus knowing that i was highly unlikely to pick up an MRSA unlike the UK.

I would say i probably recieved preferentual treatment being a foreigner. The Docs instructed me to keep on a strict diet for four weeks, man im just about sick of Rizowa and boiled chicken. From what i can source on line the after treatment is more or less straight back onto normal food. Any one any experience?

The best hospitals in Warsaw supposedly are the one from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MSWIA), NFZ funded but hardly impossible (or so I am told) to get in, and the Military Hospital.

At the moment Medicover is building a state-of-the art hospital in Wilanów. Good news for me because covered with my Medicover card...