Mental Health Centers. "The Ministry of Health and the National Health Fund are not considering reducing funding"

• Mental health center pilot will be extended until the end of the year
• They were supposed to be implemented systematically from July this year, but it has not yet been possible to prepare solutions that would make this possible.
• The decision is not a surprise, but it postpones the dissemination of the new model of psychiatric care throughout the country. For now, CZPs cover only half of Poland.
• Izabela Leszczyna assures that the new model will be launched at the beginning of the new year

Health Minister Izabela Leszczyna was asked at Wednesday's press conference about, among other things, the extension of the pilot program for mental health centers and the lack of a final model for caring for patients in mental health crisis. A draft on this matter was sent for consultation last week.

- The regulation extends this pilot precisely so that people who need support in a mental health crisis can have this help - she argued.

She added that "it was another pilot planned without evaluation, cut-off point and plan for what to do next."

- And that's exactly what we're working on. This work sometimes goes very smoothly and very well, and sometimes it encounters certain difficulties. And so that these difficulties don't cause chaos, we've extended the regulation until the end of this year - she emphasized.

According to the head of the Ministry of Health, this is the time needed to work out the necessary solutions with the community of psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists, all those employed at CZP. She reminded that the organizational standard has already been developed.

- Whenever it is not clear what it is about, it is about money. I want to say it clearly: absolutely neither the Ministry of Health nor the National Health Fund are thinking about reducing funding - assured Izabela Leszczyna.

- We are aware that community care in mental health is the best model and we will eventually implement such a model. I am sure that this will happen next year, and this year we have the situation we have, i.e. where there are centers, they operate on the same principles as before - she said.

As she recalled, NIK audits indicated that there were abuses in some centers , that there was no documentation that the transferred funds were used for the benefit of patients and in a way that would ensure proper care. - We are working on this now - she informed.

The problem is whether financing should be based on a lump sum or on a so-called fee for service.

- We absolutely do not want to go into such bureaucracy. We are aware that mental health and treatment of people in crisis cannot always be included in comparable procedures, but we have to establish certain principles and organizational standards, i.e. what we expect, demand for specific funds. And we are at this stage - explained Izabela Leszczyna.

- We will work out the best model for patients and it will come into effect, it must come into effect at the beginning of the new year - she assured.

The issue of ending the pilot program stirred up a lot of emotions at the end of last year. In early December, a protest was held in defense of mental health centers (MHCs).

The community gathered around these facilities – their charges, employees, co-creators of the reform – was concerned about their future in connection with the end of the pilot program that had been ongoing since 2018.

The plan was that from 1 July this year the centres were to be implemented systematically and ultimately operate throughout the country as the dominant model of psychiatric care. However, this means changes – including in the financing of CZPs. Their details are to be developed by a team appointed by Minister Izabela Leszczyna after the December protests.

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