About 250 patients use the services of prachatic hospitals every year. It is the only inpatient facility for the terminally ill and dying in the region. The capacity for this type of service in the south of Bohemia is sufficient and there are not too many interested parties waiting for it.
“I dare say that our region is exemplary in this regard. We have one inpatient hospital and there are hospitals in every district city. And there is no such coverage anywhere else in the Czech Republic. What would they pay for it in other areas?” said the director of prachatic hospice Robert Hunes.
According to the Association of Hospice Palliative Care Providers, the functioning conditions of mobile hospitals are not suitable for operations in rural areas, they are more suitable for large cities. That is why hospices do not exist in about half the districts of the Czech Republic.
The inpatient hospital capacity in Prachatice is 31 patients. According to the World Health Organization, there should be five beds per 100,000 residents. About 640,000 people live in the South Bohemian Region. “It means we meet the criteria exactly,” said the director.
He added that in the south of Bohemia, several hundred more patients would use the hospital’s services every year. In Prachatice, hospital beds remained empty for several days. “But it’s really a short amount of time. It certainly didn’t happen that we emptied it for a few weeks.” Hunes said.
According to him, the trend has changed significantly in two directions in recent years. “Because there are fewer people, of course fewer people are dying than, say, 30 years ago. But what’s more important is that people are starting to see the process of leaving the world differently and living more at home or in the environment that we offer here.” stated
Long-term statistics show that a patient spends an average of two to three weeks in an inpatient hospital. However, according to Huneš, the service is different than in a standard hospital. “This is due to the fact that we have a bigger staff who can take more care of people,” he says.
The operation of the hospital is partly financed by the health insurance company. But most of these facilities depend on subsidies or various fees. “It’s the same every year. In fact, we just found out in September that we will survive and will be able to continue operating,” said the Huns.
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