I am extremely touched to receive the Ewa Borek Prize which is my first award for the initiatives undertaken by the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy. The initiative to extend maternity leave for parents of premature babies and children hospitalised after birth was one of our ministry's first projects, said Minister Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk when receiving the award.

According to the minister of family, the drafting of the law would not have been possible without the impetus that came from the National Alliance “Together for Premature Newborns”, the Coalition for Prematurity Foundation and all the organisations that “recognised the injustice experienced by parents of premature babies, babies hospitalised after birth, when they lose this precious time (...) that they could have spent with their child”.

When you turned up at the Ministry's door, presented us with a petition with a huge number of signatures, it became clear that there was not a moment to lose. We have invited you to cooperate at every stage of the project, which is currently going through the government consultation path to be followed by a parliamentary path and will eventually become the applicable law, the head of the ministry of family emphasised.

Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk also highlighted the work of the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy.

We would not have drafted the law extending the maternity leave for parents of premature babies and children hospitalised after birth so quickly and appropriately without the involvement of experts from the Labour Law Department, Directors Mirosława Brzostek-Kleszcz and Agnieszka Wołoszyn.

Finally, I would like to thank you again for the recognition and the great initiative of the “Patient-Centred Leader” award. You are showing that when it comes to social, health care policy, the approach to human well-being in general, it is the patient and the human being who is at the centre and hence patient-centrism, the minister said.

The Patient-centrism Conference is organised by the WE Patients Foundation, which has been operating since 2012 and aims to promote patient participation in decision-making in healthcare and to provide expert background to patient organisations. The Foundation's mission is to build interfaces for the cooperation between public administration, patients and their organisations, doctors, academia and business in healthcare.

The draft act that extends the leave for parents of premature babies and children hospitalised after birth for reasons other than premature birth was presented by the Minister of Family on 24 May. It is to introduce the principle that for one week of hospitalisation of the child, the parent will be entitled to one-week’s longer leave, but not more than 8 or 15 weeks, depending on the week of pregnancy when the premature baby is born. Additional maternity leave will be paid at a rate of 100 per cent of the benefit base.