Unemployment and its impact on number of elective surgeries at surgery department

SUMMARY A surgery ward is one of the crucial departments in the České Budějovice Hospital. It provides a highly specialized care not only to patients from the district of České Budějovice, but also to people from the whole South-Bohemian region. Nearly 4,000 patients are treated in this ward every year. In my work I focused on a group of people who are able to work, but at the time of hospitalization they had no job and were registered in the employment agency and they came to the surgical ward for optional surgeries. The reasons why they did so could be as follows: they either neglected the care of their health due to a large amount of tasks at work, or they postponed the surgery since they were worried that they could lose their job due to a long sick leave. The objective of the work was to identify the influence of employment on decisions of clients to undergo surgeries. Questionnaires were used to gather data; they were distributed to patients hospitalized in the surgical ward of Nemocnice České Budějovice a.s. (the České Budějovice Hospital). The hypothesis which assumed that people registered in the employment agency for a short time have more surgeries than people registered in the employment agency for a long time was confirmed in the degree work. The second hypothesis assuming that people registered in the employment agency have more optional surgeries than employed people was confirmed as well. The third hypothesis where I assumed that the fees charged for hospital stays would influence the length of hospitalization of unemployed people was not confirmed since political changes resulted in the conclusion of a donation agreement between Nemocnice České Budějovice, a.s. and the South-Bohemian region; the agreement enables people to take advantage of the South-Bohemian region{\crq}s donation to cover the hospital fees starting from 1 February 2009. The results of my work could be used as arguments in solving the unemployment policy