Patients in Poland face growing delays in medical care, according to the latest Watch Health Care (WHC) Barometer. Waiting times for guaranteed services have hit a record high, sparking concerns about systemic inefficiencies and their broader implications.
The WHC Barometer, published in January 2025, paints a troubling picture.
From October to November 2024, waiting times for guaranteed medical services averaged 4.2 months – a 0.7-month increase compared to mid-2023. Access to specialists and diagnostics has worsened, with patients waiting 4.3 months for specialist consultations and 3.1 months for diagnostics, up from 3.7 and 2.5 months, respectively.
“We have reached a record. Patients have never waited so long for care,” Milena Kruszewska, President of the Watch Health Care Foundation, told Euractiv.
Longer queues highlight systemic failures
The report identifies several critical areas of concern.
Geriatrics experienced the sharpest decline, with waiting times for medical appointments now extending to 5.3 months—an increase of 2.5 months within a year. However, the queue for a stay in a nursing and care facility has increased by an alarming 11.7 months over the same period, now reaching 13.7 months.
Endocrinology also saw significant delays, with the average waiting time growing by 2.4 months to 7.6 months. Similarly, waiting times in immunology, otolaryngology, general surgery, and rheumatology increased by two months each.
Despite these challenges, some specialities have seen modest improvements. Wait times have shortened by 1.2 months in pulmonology, 0.9 months in paediatric cardiology, and 0.7 months in dentistry. Yet, certain specialists remain particularly inaccessible.
Angiologists report the longest average wait time at 13.9 months, followed by endocrinologists at 12.1 months and vascular surgeons at 11.6 months.
Conversely, the shortest waits are for paediatricians (0 months), neonatologists (0.2 months), oncologists (0.4 months), obstetrician-gynaecologists (0.4 months), and oncologic surgeons (0.6 months).
The data further show that among 40 specialities across 43 medical fields, access worsened in 18 areas, improved in nine, and remained relatively stable (+/- 0.5 months) in 13.
Patient burden
Patients waited an average of 3.1 months for diagnostic tests between October and November 2024—up from 2.5 months in the previous WHC Barometer.
The longest delays were observed for thyroid nodule biopsies (8.4 months), thyroid ultrasounds (8.1 months), and electroneurography (6.9 months).
The report underscores the cascading effects of these delays on treatment progression.
For instance, the journey from a general practitioner referral to varicose vein surgery spans 35.8 months. Similarly, heart valve replacement surgery takes 21.4 months from initial consultation to completion, while orthodontic treatment averages 21 months from the first visit to an orthodontist.
Hip replacement surgeries see patients waiting 20.7 months, and epilepsy diagnosis—tracked for the first time—takes an average of 13.4 months from the initial ER visit to consultation at a specialised epilepsy clinic.
A call for action
The WHC Barometer highlights the importance of objective monitoring to assess how effectively Poland’s healthcare system manages access to care. “The Barometer provides a patient-centred view of healthcare, as opposed to administrative reports from the National Health Fund,” the report notes.
Krzysztof Łanda, founder of the Watch Health Care Foundation, emphasised, “Polish patients do not complain about the quality of care once they reach a doctor or hospital. They complain about access, and this issue has remained unchanged for years.”
The report reminds readers that “queues are a technology with proven harm.” It explains that patients waiting in queues suffer as their conditions worsen, potentially progressing to stages where effective treatment is no longer viable.
“A person in a queue may not survive to receive effective care, or their illness may advance to a stage where targeted therapy aimed at a cure becomes impossible,” it says.
Łanda added that policymakers should focus on improving access to guaranteed services. “If these are guaranteed services, why are Poles waiting months or even years for them?”
[Edited by Vasiliki Angouridi, Brian Maguire]