Psychiatric spending will be PLN 1.2 billion lower in 2026. Specialists warn

The Association of Mental Health Centers reported that spending on psychiatry will be PLN 1.2 billion lower in 2026 than currently. The National Health Fund (NFZ) attributed the change to the completion of the CZP pilot program at the end of 2025. If the centers continue to operate under the National Health Fund (NFZ), our budget will cover them, the Fund assured PAP.

On Tuesday, the National Association of Mental Health Centers organized a press conference under the slogan "Stop spending a billion less on the mental health care system next year. Stop closing down Mental Health Centers."

The head of OSCZP, psychiatrist Dr Izabela Ciuńczyk, announced that planned expenditure on psychiatric care and addiction treatment next year will be PLN 1.2 billion lower than in 2025.

"This year, the budget was PLN 9.1 billion," she noted. She explained that this amount includes PLN 6.6 billion for psychiatric care and addiction treatment, and PLN 2.5 billion for the pilot program of mental health centers.

The pilot mental health centers are scheduled to operate until the end of 2025. This pilot began in 2018. It is based on the concept of community psychiatry, a shift away from inpatient treatment, which is intended for patients with acute illnesses. The pilot centers focus on providing care close to the patient in smaller medical centers, preventing mental crises, and, when they do occur, quickly restoring balance.

Dr. Ciuńczyk based the information about the reduction in psychiatry funding in 2026 on two letters issued by the Ministry of Health - a response dated August 5 to a parliamentary question submitted by Deputy Minister of Health Wojciech Konieczny (dismissed last week) and information provided to OSCZP by the Department of Public Health at the Ministry of Health dated September 5 this year.

"These estimates indicate that funding for 2026 is projected at PLN 7.971 billion, which is PLN 1.2 billion less than currently. This is a huge amount that will result in staff reductions and longer wait times for specialists," she said.

Wojciech Konieczny, in response to the interpellation, explained that due to the completion of the pilot program in mental health centers on December 31, 2025, the financial plan of the National Health Fund for 2026 does not include money for the pilot program, and the funds for financing psychiatric care services and addiction treatment in 2026 were planned in the amount of PLN 7.971 billion.

Paweł Florek, director of the National Health Fund's Office of Social Communication and Promotion, explained the differences in amounts to PAP. "The National Health Fund budget for the next year is planned within a strict legal framework and within a specific, maximum deadline of July 15th. Because the pilot program for the CZP program is currently scheduled for the end of this year, the original NFZ financial plan for next year could no longer accommodate it," he said. "If the situation changes and CZP programs continue to operate based on NFZ funding, the NFZ budget will cover them. This is exactly what happened in 2025, when the pilot program was originally scheduled to last until mid-year, but ultimately lasts until the end of this year, and we are paying for its implementation," he emphasized. He added that the 2026 financial plan includes more funds for psychiatry and addiction treatment than the original NFZ plan for 2025 by over PLN 1.75 billion.

Representatives of the National Association of Mental Health Centers emphasized during the conference that they do not know what the Ministry of Health plans for CZPs from next year.

In December of last year, a team was formed at the Ministry of Health to prepare for the transition from the pilot to the final model of operation of community psychiatry facilities. "We haven't received any reports on its work, and we don't know what it has achieved. The pilot is coming to an end, and in mid-September we don't know what will happen in the coming years," emphasized psychiatrist Dr. Joanna Krzyżanowska-Zbucka, chairwoman of the Organizing Committee of the Mental Health Congress.

The Polish Association of Mental Health Centers announced that it will organize an Extraordinary Mental Health Congress on October 9th of this year. A similar one was held at the end of last year. The initiative aimed to defend the care model implemented in the pilot mental health centers. Previously, the Ministry of Health and the National Health Fund (NFZ), including during meetings of the Minister of Health's Mental Health Council, announced changes to the financing model for mental health centers, which is based on a lump sum per capita provided by the NFZ. However, protesting groups, including psychiatrists, psychotherapists, recovery assistants, and patients, feared the new financing rules for mental health centers. (PAP)

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