Česky
QUESTION: We would like to ask about parking at the hospital. I drive my wife to her check-up every week, and there is often no room in the upper parking lot. Thank you for your reply.
RESPONSE: Building a parking lot is one of the priorities of the Hořovice Hospital for this year. Thanks to the cooperation with the Mayor of Hořovice, we have managed to acquire a plot of land in front of the hospital, on which the construction of the parking lot will start soon. Since the parking lot at the hospital in Beroun is being completed, we are waiting for the construction capacity to become available, then the construction of the parking lot in Hořovice will begin immediately. Its completion is expected by autumn this year. At the same time, a modification of the access road to the hospital, including the construction of a bus stop and a roundabout, has been agreed with the mayor of Hořovice. We hope that everything will be completed this year to the satisfaction of all our patients.
QUESTION: Good day, Mr. Director, what do you think is exceptional about the hospital in Hořovice and where are its reserves?
ANSWER: The town of Hořovice has one big priority - it is the smallest town in the Czech Republic that has a hospital providing comprehensive acute care. I am glad that we can provide this advantage to our clients from Hořovice and the surrounding area. I dare to say that Hořovice hospital is also exceptional because of the friendly attitude of the staff towards the patients, which is one of our priorities that we strive to promote and become exceptional. In addition to standard care, of course in excellent quality, we are trying to build up supra-regional departments that are gradually gaining fame almost all over the country. For many years, our maternity ward has been well-known and has become the largest maternity ward in Central Bohemia. Its fame was boosted by the construction of a new neonatology department, which guarantees better quality care for newborns. Well-known and still developing is the orthopaedics in Horovice, which treats patients from almost all over the country, and in recent years we have been developing a surgical centre for the treatment of non-specific intestinal inflammation. Patients from Bohemia and Moravia also benefit from this care. We were the first in the Czech Republic to open a chronic intensive care unit for children. In the future, we are preparing other projects to make Hořovice Hospital more visible.
It is also exceptional that the Hořovice Hospital is becoming an educational centre that organises professional conferences. Recently, the hospital organized a nationwide professional meeting of neonatologists, gastroenterologists and intestinal surgeons at the Zbiroh Castle.
Among the undeniable exclusivities is the unusual construction development of the hospital, which has been entirely renovated, modernised and expanded with additional facilities since privatisation thanks to the owner Sotirios Zavalianis. This redevelopment continues at the present time, with the rebuilding and modernisation of the pharmacy and the expansion of the chronic intensive care unit for children. A nursery school will also be built on the hospital site for the children of staff. With a view to several years, another major construction expansion of the hospital is planned.
I consider the personnel situation in the health care system in the Czech Republic to be a disadvantage, as the general shortage of doctors and especially nurses is beginning to manifest itself in our hospital. Although we are trying to build good working and financial conditions for our employees, we are not completely successful in attracting quality medical staff, also due to the considerable distance of Hořovice from large cities. This fact may jeopardise our plans to expand the hospital, which I am very sorry about.
QUESTION: Mr Průša, is it difficult to run a hospital? What is the most challenging?
ANSWER: Hořovice Hospital has approximately 700 employees, which naturally implies the difficulty of managing such a large organisation. I myself have many years of experience in managing people, I worked for many years as a chief physician and managed large departments. The transition to hospital management was of course challenging, but for me it was made easier by the preparation in my previous management studies. As I have the fate of the hospital at heart, the most difficult issues for me are those that can damage the interest of the hospital, their patients and staff.
QUESTION: Hello, when did you decide to become a doctor? What is your specialty?
ANSWER: I come from a medical family, so it was expected beforehand that I would also be a doctor. However, my interests were more towards the natural sciences, but my decision to become a doctor came at the end of high school when I was not recommended to study medicine for political reasons, which cemented my decision to become a doctor. I then had to work for a year in a blue-collar job, as it used to be under the previous regime, after which I got into medicine. My specialty became anaesthesiology and intensive care. Later I also got specialised in chronic pain management and palliative medicine. Before I became director, I worked as a doctor for more than twenty-five years, most recently as head of the ARO department at Hořovice Hospital. I still run a pain management outpatient clinic, which cares for patients with long-standing severe pain.
QUESTION: How do you cope with sad cases? Do you take them home? Or do you leave them outside the hospital gates when you leave?
ANSWER: As I said, my specialty is intensive care medicine and chronic pain management, among other things, so I have seen a lot of deaths in my career. I have to say from my own experience that it is not in any physician's power to personally experience every death of their patients. However, the professional qualities of a good physician include coping with the dying of his or her patients, helping to relieve them from the unpleasant experiences associated with dying, and communicating with the dying and their family. All of this is very taxing on the physician's psyche, and he or she cannot carry everyone's pain with him or her all the time without breaking down himself or herself. In spite of all this, I must point out that surely each of us will have some of his deceased patients imprinted on our memories. So, too, I am haunted by the memories of many of them whom I helped and who, perhaps even a little thanks to me, left this world better. These are often very intimate and personal memories based on the personal relationships between the doctor and the dying person that develop during the course of treatment.
QUESTION: For what reason is the pharmacy adjusted first. Wouldn't it be more logical to start with the construction of the parking lot?
RESPONSE: As I have already stated, the remodeling of the pharmacy was initiated for capacity reasons; due to its operation, the pharmacy needed expansion. Currently, the approvals are being finalized with the authorities for the construction of the parking lot. Another reason was the completion of the parking lot at the hospital in Beroun so that the equipment could be moved to Hořovice.
QUESTION: Hello, Mr. Director, would you like to be examined at the hospital in Hořovice?
ANSWER: Yes. I have full confidence in the quality of examination and treatment at the hospital in Hořovice, I have been examined there several times myself. Many of my friends have been examined and operated on here, and many children of my friends and acquaintances, including friends from abroad, have been born in the hospital. Last week my mother was successfully operated on in the orthopaedics department.
QUESTION: In your position as director of the hospital, are you more of a doctor or a manager? If the latter, don't you miss the right contact with patients?
ANSWER: Of course, in this position I am primarily a manager, but at the same time I look at hospital issues from a medical perspective. I think my primarily medical background helps me in this position because I know the medical issues of the hospital in detail, I know many of the staff very well personally and professionally, which helps me in my management decisions.
Of course, one remains a doctor even after leaving practice. I have to admit that at first I missed the daily contact with patients. Nowadays, in my spare time, I try to run my outpatient clinic and sometimes I serve in the hospital. So I still maintain at least minimal contact with patients.
QUESTION: Hello, Mr. Director, the hospital in Horovice has changed considerably in recent years. How much money did these changes cost?
ANSWER: The reconstruction of the hospital in Horyovice and the hospital in Beroun, both of which belong to the same owner, have indeed been spectacularly modernised and expanded. The financial resources spent on this were enormous, in the order of many hundreds of thousands of millions to billions.
QUESTION: Hello, I have noticed in the media that there is to be a baby box in Beroun. Would this be appropriate since there is no maternity and neonatal ward in Beroun?
RESPONSE: Indeed, given that there is no maternity ward in Beroun, it does not seem appropriate for a baby box to be located there. The Hořovice maternity hospital is ready to receive pregnant women and neonates at any time. That is why the baby box is not being considered in the hospital in Hořovice.
QUESTION: Hello, you write in your answer that the parking lot in Hořovice will be completed this autumn. Could you also indicate how many spaces are planned?
ANSWER: The exact capacity will be determined after the construction of the retaining wall, tentatively two to three hundred spaces are expected.
QUESTION: Hello, Mr. Director, the 2nd floor of the NH is undergoing renovation of the wards (if I am not mistaken, these are the original operating theatres). Is this an expansion of the capacity of one of the existing wards or a new one? Thank you for the answer, Christine - patient.
ANSWER: It is a new capacity, the purpose of which has not been definitely decided. It is likely to be used for complex orthopaedic cases.
