The University Hospital Olomouc is building thirty beds of acute care for children with mental illness. The beds will be created during the reconstruction and extension of the Psychiatry Clinic, which will raise its total capacity from 64 to 120 beds. [2] The project runs in two stages: first a four-storey pavilion U2 with one underground floor will be built next to the existing building, then the current building U, now designated U1, will be reconstructed and the two buildings will be connected. [2] The Olomouc Region has not had such inpatient capacity before. The investment exceeds 450 million crowns excluding VAT and roughly half of the costs will be covered by a European subsidy. [2] The hospital received support for the construction from the Integrated Regional Operational Programme. [1] The hospital announced this on 2 October 2026.[1][2][3]
Construction work began this January and is due to be finished in about two years. [2] The extended premises are to house three separate wards of thirty beds each with different care regimes, as well as examination rooms, therapy spaces and a multipurpose gym. [2]
According to director Roman Havlík, no hospital in the Olomouc, Zlín or Moravian-Silesian Region provides acute inpatient care for children with mental problems; only follow-up care beds exist there. [3] According to the head physician, older children who need hospitalisation have so far been admitted in Šternberk or Kroměříž, and some of the younger ones are sent to Brno. [2]
According to the head physician, children wait four to six months on average for an outpatient psychiatric examination. [2] In the new premises the clinic wants to use movement, breathing work and other therapeutic activities more, alongside medication and psychotherapy, and patients will also have a garden. [2]
The hospital still has to recruit staff for the new ward. [2] Its management wants to use the next two years to recruit and prepare employees for child psychiatry. [2]
At the presentation of the project on 2 October 2026, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said that the Ministry of Health runs nineteen psychiatric hospitals, only three of which are for children, and that acute child psychiatric care is lacking in four regions. [3]
Statements on the project during the Prime Minister's visit on 2 October 2026
At the time of the Prime Minister's visit on 2 October 2026, the University Hospital Olomouc had no acute inpatient child psychiatry, and no other medical facility in the Olomouc Region provided it; only follow-up care beds were available. According to the daily Novinky.cz, the situation is similar in the Zlín and Moravian-Silesian Regions. Director Roman Havlík said that the capacity being built was therefore becoming more important.[4]
Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) said in a discussion with the hospital management that the Ministry of Health runs 19 psychiatric hospitals, three of them for children, and that care for children and adolescents is lacking in four regions, on which the ministry will focus more. He added that the government is returning to the original project of psychiatric care reform and is gradually building mental health centres.[4]
Head physician of the Psychiatry Clinic Aleš Grambal said that the number of child patients with mental difficulties has been rising in recent years and that specialised units and beds are few. In his view, the extension and reconstruction of the premises should make up for part of the missing capacity. The project also includes expanding care for adult patients. The reconstruction and extension of the clinic is due to be finished in two years and half of the costs are to be covered by a subsidy from European funds.[4]
Chronology
- — The University Hospital Olomouc is building thirty acute-care beds for children with mental illness, which the Olomouc Region has so far lacked. Deník: Olomoucký kraj iDNES.cz: Olomouc
- — During a visit to the University Hospital Olomouc on 2 October 2026, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said that the Ministry of Health runs 19 psychiatric hospitals, three of them for children, and that child psychiatric care is lacking in four regions; the reconstruction and extension of the psychiatry clinic in Olomouc is to be finished in two years. Novinky.cz iROZHLAS
Sources
- Deník: Olomoucký kraj
- iDNES.cz: Olomouc
- Hanácká Drbna
- Novinky.cz — 2 October 2026