Aim.:
Analysis of psychiatric services for patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, reported to the National Health Fund in the years 2009–2018.

Material and Methods:
Schizophrenia is analyzed as one of the diseases with the highest rate of Disability-Adjusted Life Years – DALY. In the study, the unitary data of the National Health Fund (NFZ) was used, reported in the years 2009–2018. Patients were identified by the Personal Identity Number (PESEL). The services for adults were analyzed, i.e., people who were at least 18 years old in the year when the services were discontinued, for whom the main disease was schizophrenia classified by ICD-10 codes: F20 to F20.9. Provided services were analyzed according to those specified in the ordinance of the President of the National Health Fund of June 28, 2019 – organizational units and billing product codes.

Results:
Between 2009 and 2018, the number of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia treated in the public sector increased by 5%. In the analyzed years, the number of in-patients decreased by 9%, while the number of people using out-patient services and community treatment increased by 6%. In forensic psychiatry departments, a very high increase (by 212%) in the number of hospitalized patients was observed. In 2018, the average number of hospitalization days in a general psychiatric ward was 43, in the forensic ward 279. A very low percentage of patients (less than 3%) used day therapy. In out-patient treatment, the mainstay of therapy was a medical consultation; less than 10% of patients used other types of services. In 2018, an average of four visits/consultations per patient was reported. There has been a very high decrease in the number of patients (by 77%) using group therapy, family therapy and support.

Conclusions:
In 2009–2018, most patients diagnosed with schizophrenia in the public sector were treated using the traditional model of care: medical consultation and psychiatric hospitalization. It is advisable to reorganize the system – implementation and development of comprehensive care coordinated within the community care model. Extending the study with information from the non-public sector would give a full picture of system functioning and facilitate service needs estimation for this group of patients.