Today, 10.10.2021, Polish Hospital Federation (Polska Federacja Szpitali #PFSz) celebrates its tenth anniversary.

Before 2011 there had been no nationwide hospital association in Poland. On the initiative of Jaroslaw J. Fedorowski, physician, university professor and healthcare executive, the organization associating hospitals regardless of their model of ownership, specialty profile, size or location was established on 10th of October 2011. The meeting of founding hospitals took place at law offices of Miller, Canfield, Babicki, Chelchowski and Partners in Warsaw. The organization assumed name: Polska Federacja Szpitali (Polish Hospital Federation) with an acronym derived from the Polish name: PFSz. Since then, PFSz has become the most representative hospital organization in Poland maturing into a direct membership and an umbrella organization for the majority of hospitals in the country.  PFSz was admitted as full member to the European Hospital and healthcare Federation HOPE in November 2011 and organized very successful HOPE AGORA Congress in Warsaw in June 2015. PFSz was admitted as associate member to the International Hospital Federation (IHF) in 2019 and elevated into full membership in 2020.

Polish hospital Federation is a voice of Poland’s hospitals on national and international arena. PFSz supports hospitals and its managers in their pursuit of delivering cost-effective, high quality care that brings real value to patients.

Polish Hospital Federation proposes to proclaim the 10th of October the World Hospital Day.

Polish Hospital Federation, as the representative of Poland’s hospitals on the global forum, is directing a proposal to the leadership of the International Hospital Federation (IHF): Dr. Risto Miettunen – IHF President, Ms. Deborah Bowen – IHF President Designate and Mr. Ronald Lavater – IHF CEO, to put into motion to officially proclaim the 10th of October (10.10.) as the World Hospital Day during the IHF General Assembly, scheduled for 8th of November, at the 44th World Hospital Congress in Barcelona 2021. Polish Hospital Federation realizes that a different day for the World Hospital Day may need to be ultimately voted for, in view of the already established international and national special days related to healthcare, for example World Mental Health Awareness day on the 10th of October.

The hospital sector is a key part in national health and international health safety. Hospitals are primarily people but also infrastructure, financing, organization, coordination, innovation, cooperation with system stakeholders and more. The focus is of course on the patient and the main task is to deliver value to the patient that arises from the diagnosis and treatment of a specific disease state. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated, on a global scale, the importance of hospital staff representing numerous medical and non-medical professions. Many professions in the health care sector have their world days to celebrate, just to mention the International Doctor’s Day, or the International Nurses’ Day. Considering the interdisciplinarity and team work that make hospitals successful in the diagnosis and treatment of sick people, the hospital day should not be missing among international special days of the healthcare sector. Therefore, the Polish Hospital Federation is launching the initiative to proclaim the 10th of October (10.10) or the nearest possible day as the World Hospital Day. Let this celebration be an expression of recognition and appreciation of the international society for hospitals and support for the hospital sector around the world. We request all hospitals and hospital organizations in the world to support our initiative.

On behalf of the Polish Hospital Federation,

Jaroslaw J. Fedorowski, Univ. Prof, MD, PhD, MBA, FACP, FESC, FPAMC

President, Polish Hospital Federation #PFSz

www.pfsz.org

10.10.2021

Warszawa, Poland.