Healthcare needs improvement worldwide, but the problems in Hungary are particularly serious. In some areas, the solution is fundamentally a question of money, yet a significant number of problems stem more from weak efficiency, poor organisation and a lack of cooperation. The new government’s health minister also referred to the The Lancet study addressing the fundamental problems of Hungarian healthcare and planned reforms. Fortunately, proven methods now exist that can quickly produce visible results in large public systems such as healthcare with relatively modest financial investment.
According to the The Lancet article and the incoming minister, measuring, validating and publishing healthcare quality indicators is one of the most important steps towards reform. Plans include introducing transparent patient feedback systems and explaining quality indicators in accessible language. Another goal is to establish a culture of honesty: when the system makes a mistake, patients should be informed immediately, honestly and respectfully. This could shift healthcare away from a culture of blame towards a learning system. An equally significant operational problem is the fragmented patient journey and weak coordination between departments, professions and institutions: patients often do not move through a coordinated care process, but try to navigate the loosely connected decisions of separate actors.
The Arbinger method is an organisational development methodology built on decades of deep psychological understanding. It is applied successfully not only in business but also in public administration: hospitals, schools, police units and elite military formations benefit from its results. According to its scientific foundations, human behaviour is shaped not merely by skills, rules or communication techniques, but by the deeper mindset through which people see themselves, others and shared goals. The method’s central distinction is between an inward mindset and an outward mindset: in the former, people see others as obstacles, tools or problems; in the latter, they consider others’ goals, burdens, needs and their own impact on them. This leads to Arbinger’s core operating philosophy: lasting organisational change occurs not when people memorise new behavioural formulas, but when their understanding of others and their sense of responsibility change. The method is therefore successfully used in leadership development, organisational culture building, conflict resolution, breaking down silos, improving customer and patient experience, and developing healthcare, public-service and corporate operations.
This would be particularly relevant in Hungarian healthcare institutions, because a significant share of the problems arises not simply from a lack of professional knowledge, but from departments, managers, doctors, nurses, diagnostic teams and administrative units involved in the patient journey often treating each other as obstacles rather than parts of a shared care system. In emergency care, for example, interdepartmental blame could decrease and patient handovers could accelerate; in diagnostics, patient pathway times could improve; in nursing, turnover could fall and internal trust could rise; and in patient complaints handling, there could be less defensiveness and more factual, improvement-oriented responses. International healthcare examples suggest that in such situations the method targets measurable operational results rather than an abstract “good atmosphere”: better patient experience, stronger employee engagement, lower turnover, fewer silos, greater leadership accountability and a more stable organisational culture. Arbinger therefore does not offer a substitute for hospital structure; it can add real value where human attitudes, lack of cooperation and blurred accountability undermine the performance of the existing structure.
Arbinger does not claim that funding, infrastructure or capacity shortages do not matter, but that poor human and leadership practices cause even existing resources to underperform. The method can deliver better cooperation, fewer conflicts, greater accountability, more credible leadership, stronger employee engagement and more patient- or customer-centred operations. A good healthcare example is Regions Hospital in the United States, where clinical, administrative, security, cleaning and other support functions operated separately in silos, while patients felt staff were too busy to pay them genuine attention. The Arbinger intervention aimed to help employees recognise not only their own task lists, but also their impact on patients, colleagues and the entire care experience.
In Hungary, the Arbinger method would be worth introducing as a rapidly launched hospital pilot programme based on measurable results, rather than another major central healthcare reform. The first step should be to identify silos, avoidance of responsibility, internal conflicts and points where a lack of cooperation directly harms care quality in 2–3 heavily burdened institutions - particularly in emergency care, diagnostics, nursing and patient journey coordination. This could be followed by training and practical follow-up for leaders and then key departmental staff, potentially producing noticeable improvements in communication, patient handovers and everyday cooperation within 3–6 months. Realistically, measurable results could be expected within 12–18 months in patient experience, employee engagement, reduced turnover, complaints handling and coordination between departments. The financial impact is also significant: savings would come primarily from reducing hidden operational losses - conflicts, rework, disrupted patient journeys, turnover and wasted capacity - rather than reducing headcount. Follow-up studies suggest that successful implementation in a 100-person organisational unit could deliver annual savings on the order of HUF 100 million.
Arbinger and SWAT
