Česky
Welcome to the website of the Rehabilitation Hospital Beroun, which is intended to contribute to greater openness of our hospital to the public - both lay and professional. We believe that the information you will find here will enable you to get to know us better and gain the necessary trust in our hospital.
The Beroun Hospital, opened in 1929, has undergone a fundamental transformation since its privatisation by Jessenia a.s. in 2007. Its restructuring and revitalization, in which the new owner has already invested several hundred million crowns, have brought its patients and employees a comfortable, factually and professionally highly equipped environment, in symbiosis with the most important thing - quality, expert care, provided with a human and considerate approach. The quality of the hospital is confirmed, among other things, by the increasing number of patients who specifically seek it out - not only from the catchment area, but practically from all over the country, as well as by the many letters and e-mails highly appreciating both the quality care of the local medical staff and the hospital's environment and state-of-the-art equipment.
We firmly believe that if you need us, you will be satisfied with our care, using the latest medical knowledge, as well as with the environment, often compared by our clients to a home environment. But we also need your friendliness and trust. And should you be convinced that all is not well, do not hesitate to contact us.
We hope that you will find everything you are interested in on the website of the Rehabilitation Hospital Beroun and that you will find the information comprehensive and understandable.
From the history of the Beroun hospital
The hospital is essentially a service to the citizens. A service of the highest value
Our ancestors were certainly aware of this when they started to think about establishing a hospital in Beroun. The Beroun region, which had begun to develop quite strongly industrially during the 19th century, began to feel the absence of a quality medical facility. It is true that there had been a modern hospital built by the Prague Ironworks Company in Králov Dvůr since 1897, but it was mainly intended only for the employees of the local Karlo-Emilova smelter.
The construction of a hospital in Beroun was first considered in the 1880s, after the Provincial Committee called on all district councils to establish hospitals where none existed. A competition for its location was even announced - for the record, the land between the Town Hill and the present large housing estate was chosen - a project was drawn up and a building permit obtained. But that was the end of it. Subsequently, there were even discussions about building three smaller hospitals in the then seats of district physicians, followed by a building in Beroun and its branch in Litň. The contradictions were insurmountable and there was no real will to build. However, finances were certainly not an obstacle in the Beroun district, which was booming thanks to the development of industry and trade. So, in the end, the original plan began to be realised after forty long years. After the establishment of an independent Czechoslovakia in 1918, efforts to build a hospital intensified again. Already in 1921, the then newly established District Administrative Commission submitted an application to the Ministry of Health and Sports for the construction of a county hospital in Beroun. After two years, however, this was also refused on the grounds that the state did not have sufficient funds.
The Commission finally decided to build the hospital with its own funds and loans.
Out of the three proposals, a beautiful, quiet location in the Závodí district was chosen, mainly because there was a source of good quality drinking water nearby. It was bought from Marie and František Brotánek. The competition for the design of the hospital was won by the Prague architect ing. Karel Roštík, and a tender was announced, in which 153 companies took part. 60 of them participated in the construction, almost half of them from Beroun itself.
The excavation and construction work started in August 1927. Within a year, the rough works were completed, the area was connected to the outskirts of the town by an access road, a fence wall was built and heating, electricity and water pipes were installed. In 1929, the hospital was completed and the necessary equipment was provided, so that it became one of the most modern hospitals in Czechoslovakia for its time. The cost was not negligible - more than 20.5 million crowns.
In front of the granite monolith by the surgical pavilion, with the inscription "For the benefit of the suffering built by the district government in 1927 - 1929," important representatives of the state administration and local government gathered on 1 December 1929 for its grand opening. The library owner of the General Public District Hospital, as its full name was, was the District Office of Hořovice, under which Beroun fell until 1936. The aforementioned District Administrative Commission had a self-governing function for the Beroun part of the district. It was not until the political administration of the district was changed that the owner of the hospital changed and all the powers were taken over by the District Office in Beroun. Even before that, in 1935, the hospital extended its name to Masaryk Hospital in honour of the President of the Republic.
However, by the end of the 1930s, the Beroun hospital was no longer sufficient for its capacity, and real consideration was given to building an extension, especially in the internal medicine department. History seemed to be repeating itself, and again a number of facts intervened which, interestingly enough, delayed the plan by 40 years. However, with breaks between 1960 and 1978, a general overhaul of the already rather dilapidated premises began, and in 1976 a new internship was finally built to provide care for the long-term sick (LDN). It was opened in March 1980.
But let's go back to that time for a moment. The advent of the communist regime in 1948 brought major changes to the health care system. From the beginning of 1949, the Beroun hospital, which had been administered by a board appointed by the Beroun council, was transferred to the state. It is certainly worth pointing out that up to that time it had been managed very well, with a cash balance of 2.2 million crowns at the time of the takeover by the state.
From 1 December 1951, the Beroun hospital, together with all other medical facilities in the Beroun district, was incorporated into the District Institute of National Health in Beroun. In fact, it lost its independence and, for political reasons, the name of President Masaryk had to disappear from its name.
At the time of its opening in 1929, it had (until 1940) a total of 250 beds, of which 116 were in surgery and the rest in the infectious (internal) department. The number of primary wards increased after the war (the eye department, founded in 1930, was only in operation for a few years). In 1950, a gynaecological-obstetric department was added to the Beroun hospital, in 1960 a pediatric-infant department, in 1976 a pathological-anatomical department, and a year later a rehabilitation department was opened. In 1980, the aforementioned hospital for long-term patients was opened, three years later a six-bed intensive care unit and in 1985 an inpatient anaesthesiology and resuscitation ward. However, this situation was different before the hospital was privatised in 2007, and some departments no longer existed.
The hospital park
The Rehabilitation Hospital Beroun is surrounded by a large park. In addition to the park, there used to be a fruit and vegetable garden and flower beds. Some people still remember the beds of lilies of the valley of the Boromean Sisters. But then everything gradually disappeared. True, until the 1970s there was a gardener in the Beroun hospital, but after that the park and everything else really just decayed. The paths disappeared under the bushes, the pond disappeared, the flowers sometimes came back to life wildly, but basically the work of destruction was finished. In 1996, the park was partially cleared of trees, but by 2007, when the hospital was taken over by Jessenia, it was again in a very poor state. The new owner of the hospital gradually restored the park and the wall around the hospital grounds to its original state. The park is now beautiful and has once again become an oasis of peace and relaxation for patients and their visitors. It has also created an interesting and useful space for rehabilitation training for people with disabilities, which is appreciated especially by the clients of the Rehabilitation Centre.
