Palliative/hospice care in Poland

Abstract

The first hospice in eastern Europe was the Hospicium in Krakow, which was created 10 years ago. Three years later the leading independent Polish hospice, Hospitium Pallotinum, was founded in Gdansk. This hospice helped to organize more than 20 similar groups, usually Catholic agencies which offer home care programmes. The University Palliative Care Service in the Academy of Medical Sciences in Poznan, which was created in 1988, consists of a home care team caring for 600 patients a year and has a seven-bed inpatient unit. It offers an education programme for physicians, nurses, medical and pharmacy students as well as a research programme. There is currently an academic link between the Poznan Palliative Care service and Sir Michael Sobell House in Oxford, sharing medical and nursing education in palliative care. The educational courses and conferences have been attended by international speakers offering education which will help to change the attitudes of professional health care workers and the public. We hope that the Polish Ministry of Health and Welfare and the government will be interested in establishing policies that will cover the cost of palliative care in the newly developing health care system.