Evelin Trembeczki ^* István Kobolka Iván Zádori

• University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary

The operation, productivity, and available services of a hospital depend on the financial system associated with its type of ownership (public, private for-profit, or private not-for-profit). This cross-sectional study aimed to analyze the employees' perception of a private Hungarian hospital's change in ownership after being taken over by the public sector. A questionnaire with 68 items was developed and administered to 185 hospital employees. Subsequently, 131 questionnaires were returned (response rate: 70.8%). The indicators for job satisfaction, work environment, work culture, and managerial efficiency were scored lower after the takeover, whereas career prospects and work quality were perceived as the same. Most participants noted no change in the organizational culture, accessibility of the training course, needed improvements, tools and resources, or organization of the work processes since the takeover, but did note an increase in their salary. A significant change in the quality of hospital care was noted by the participants after the takeover, with significantly less participants rating it as "very good" (13.7% before vs. 9.9% after) or "good" (49.6% before vs. 45.8% after) and more participants rating it as "medium" (28.2% before vs. 37.4% after, p < 0.001 for all comparisons).The perceived overall performance of the hospital was rated as "excellent" by significantly less participants after the takeover (14.5% before vs. 9.9% after, p < 0.001) and by more participants as "satisfactory" (3.8% before vs. 6.1% after, p < 0.001) or "unsatisfactory (0% before vs. 1.5% after, p < 0.001). In summary, individual aspects of working conditions, including workload, transparency, communication, and managerial efficiency, deteriorated after the takeover. Thus, the new management should aim to increase job satisfaction and retain employees to avoid future shortcomings in staff and patient care.