PLN 62.5 million for UH in 2022

Commissioned Science and Research Centre, modernised central registration and main entrance as well as the sampling point in the laboratory, expanded pneumatic post system, retrofitted wards and outpatient clinics - this is how the largest hospital in the Opole Voivodeship changed in 2022. More than 1,600 residents took part in ongoing health programmes.

“Thanks to external financing in the amount of over PLN 62.5 million, the past year was very important for us in terms of completed investments and the development of the hospital as a multi-specialist and clinical unit,” emphasizes Dariusz Madera, CEO.

It cost PLN 40 million to set up and equip the Science and Research Centre for medical and health sciences projects.

The Centre was financed from the EU regional programme of the Marshal's Office of the Opole Voivodeship, a grant from the Medical Research Agency, and the state budget. 

In addition, the hospital obtained PLN 11.5 million from the Ministry of Health for equipment retrofitting, including a new magnetic resonance imaging scanner for PLN 7 million and the only ambulance in the voivodeship equipped with an incubator to transport new-borns, for PLN 1.1 million.  Another PLN 11 million within the EU programme from the Marshal of the Voivodeship made it possible, inter alia, to purchase a new angiograph to perform vascular examinations and procedures and to finance three health programmes (for colon cancer detection, overweight and obesity prevention and cardiac rehabilitation), in which more than 1 600 people took part in 2022.

“Implementing such programmes complements the extent of our purely treatment activity. Our aim is to save lives and provide effective hospital treatment, but also to encourage citizens to prevent the onset of diseases, to take care of their health at a stage when it is not yet failing,” points out Dariusz Madera, and states that a total of almost 3 800 people were examined in the course of these programmes.

The hospital has also systematically been endeavouring to improve treatment conditions for patients and work conditions for staff. In 2022, the modernised main entrance and central registration, equipped with an electronic queuing system, also introduced in outpatient clinics, were put into service. The entire facility was adapted for people with special needs. The sampling point in the laboratory was also modernised, and the pneumatic post system for sending test samples from the wards to the laboratories was expanded.

The statistics at the end of November indicate that the number of patients treated at the UH in 2022 will be higher than the year before. For the 11 months of 2022, 22,500 people were admitted to the hospital wards, while for the whole of 2021 - one thousand fewer. The number of patients at the ER reached 46,000, compared to 43,600 in 2021.

“We have been expanding the scope of our medical activity year on year, thanks to the development of our staff and the retrofitting of equipment,” comments Dr Andrzej Kucharski, Director for Treatment.  

“In 2022, our team, led by Professor Krzysztof Morawski, implemented a programme of cochlear implants in children and adults. New solutions, unique in the country and the world, are being introduced, inter alia, by cardiologists. It was in our hospital that a minimally invasive procedure for closing the artery for subclavian access was developed. The procedure is used for aortic valve and cardiac assist pump implantation. In the past year, minimally invasive techniques were also introduced by cardiac surgeons, paediatric surgeons and urologists. We have also progressed in non-surgical disciplines: endocrinology, diabetology and allergology. As a result, the inhabitants of the region gain access to specialist examinations and treatment on site, and our facility is chosen by patients from all over the country," points out Dr Kucharski.

And he adds that thanks to the cooperation with the city of Opole, the Health Centre company has opened a primary healthcare clinic at the premises of the USK. “Thanks to this, we can provide a wider range of services in one place," concludes Dr Kucharski.