| Abstract |
Background: In Greece, in recent years, the phenomenon of degradation and decline of health services provided by public hospitals has been intense. There is a wider climate of dissatisfaction, both from patients-citizens and from hospital employees, for various reasons, while at the same time the procedures towards improving conditions with the existing institutional framework are quite complex. In this light, it becomes necessary to restructure the legal nature of hospitals and to study how this can happen without disrupting the wider functioning of the national health system.
Aim: The purpose of this postgraduate thesis was to investigate and highlight the positives and negatives arising from the transformation of public hospitals into legal entities of private law. Individual objectives were also set: The study of the way of operation, administration and decision-making in a public and a private hospital, from which the advantages and disadvantages of these were highlighted, as well as the promotion of the necessity of changing the administration of health policy in the field of public health.
Methodology: The present study was conducted in the prefecture of Heraklion, between the General University Hospital and, remotely, the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center. It had a total duration of one semester, in the spring season of 2024. Methodologically, this is a qualitative survey conducted in the form of unstructured interviews using questionnaires. This was followed by a transcript of the interviews and their analysis using the swot analysis.
Results: By analyzing the data obtained by comparing the responses of the two hospitals, their contradictions become apparent. As far as supplies are concerned, PAGNI has limited capabilities, a financing problem, which also results in acute shortages in the products supplied, as well as difficulties such as delays in deliveries for which there is no response system. On the other hand, at Onassis the procedures are simplified, with greater ability to handle situations and proper flow of supplies. And in the personnel department the comparison was similar. Onassis hospital is considered adequately staffed, with incentives and initiatives for the development of its employees, with immediate and smooth integration of new staff as soon as needed, and training and education programs for both new and existing staff. The same does not apply to P. G. N. I. , where there is severe understaffing and burnout of medical staff, there are no incentives to work and reward good performances and there is no provision / legislation to fill the vacancies created. All this results in an image of under-functioning and inadequacy of the public hospital.
Conclusions: The results of this research highlighted the urgent need for a total restructuring of the NHS. The use of Onassis hospital as a model for regime change shows how much more functional, modern and humane conditions are in a hospital with proper coordination and administration. The proposal to convert public hospitals into legal entities of private law, under the umbrella of the wider Public Legal Entity of the Ministry of Health but without their full and intense dependence on administrative and operational level, will radically change their effectiveness and their response to citizens' needs.
|
Collections
