The situation and challenges of palliative care in Poland

In Poland, palliative care is a specialised form of medical care or treatment financed from public means. Observing the regulations, there should be one home hospice in every county and one stationary medical care unit (palliative care unit) or stationary hospice in every 2-3 counties. A palliative medicine centre should function along with stationary or home units or within oncology hospitals. The National Health Fund (NHF) reimburses health service under stationary conditions (provided by palliative medical care departments or stationary hospices), ambulatory conditions (palliative medicine centres) and home ones (home hospices for children and adults). Hospital support teams and day-care units are not financed by the NHF. Additional sources of financing are as follows: local government donations and support of non-governmental organizations (associations and foundations). The outstanding problems are insufficient financing, the shortage of hospital beds, lack of standards and staff shortages.