Polish Hospitals Consolidate Services Amid Restructuring Wave

Hospitals across Poland are entering a phase of extensive restructuring, with major changes planned or underway in at least nine voivodeships, including Silesia, Lower Silesia, and Greater Poland. The majority of these reforms are slated for 2026 and involve a combination of consolidating entire healthcare entities or specific service areas, alongside internal reorganizations within individual hospitals.

The practical implications include the merging of facilities, the transfer of services between institutions, the alteration of ward profiles, and a move away from round-the-clock hospitalization towards planned treatments and day surgery. Lower Silesia is at the forefront of this consolidation trend, with at least five major mergers in preparation. In Wałbrzych, three institutions are set to merge, while in Kłodzko county, facilities in Polanica-Zdrój, Kłodzko, and Bystrzyca Kłodzka will be consolidated, with urology and neurology services potentially centralized in Polanica-Zdrój.

Other significant mergers are planned in the Lower Silesian region, including the Gromkowski Hospital with the Falkiewicz Hospital in Wrocław, the Provincial Hospital in Legnica with the Provincial Psychiatric Hospital in Złotoryja, and the ZOZ in Bolesławiec with the Multidisciplinary Hospital in Zgorzelec. The West Pomeranian Voivodeship is also seeing substantial planned mergers, such as the consolidation of the West Pomeranian Oncology Center with the Specialist ZOZ 'Zdroje' in Szczecin, and the merger of hospitals in Koszalin.

Similar restructuring is occurring in Greater Poland, with plans to merge facilities in Piła and Wyrzysk, and transfer a thoracic surgery department from Piła to the Greater Poland Oncology Center in Poznań. In Silesia, discussions are ongoing regarding the merger of the Provincial Specialist Hospital No. 5 in Sosnowiec with the Diagnostic Imaging Department. In Małopolska, the consolidation of the 5th Military Clinical Hospital in Krakow with the Narutowicz Hospital is being considered, while the hospital in Proszowice is exploring a merger with a facility in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. In Lublin, SPZOZ in Adampol is planned to be absorbed by the Provincial Specialist Hospital in Biała Podlaska.