Where in Poland the wait is shortest
The region you live in changes the result more than you think
The waiting list for the same specialist looks completely different in Lublin and in Gdansk. It is not that doctors work faster in one place than another. It is about how many facilities hold an NFZ contract in a given area and how many people sign up with them.
Regions, starting with the shortest waiting lists
The average for stable cases, across all medical services together. The next column shows what share of the waiting lists in a given region take patients with no wait.
| # | Region | Average | Admits no wait | Waiting lists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | łódzkie | 47 days | 41% | 6 616 |
| 2 | lubelskie | 48 days | 38% | 5 258 |
| 3 | zachodniopomorskie | 59 days | 37% | 2 820 |
| 4 | świętokrzyskie | 62 days | 33% | 3 081 |
| 5 | podlaskie | 62 days | 43% | 2 340 |
| 6 | opolskie | 64 days | 46% | 2 062 |
| 7 | warmińsko-mazurskie | 64 days | 26% | 2 566 |
| 8 | lubuskie | 68 days | 30% | 1 642 |
| 9 | dolnośląskie | 71 days | 34% | 9 713 |
| 10 | mazowieckie | 71 days | 28% | 9 598 |
| 11 | śląskie | 77 days | 24% | 8 919 |
| 12 | wielkopolskie | 79 days | 23% | 6 044 |
| 13 | pomorskie | 80 days | 30% | 3 874 |
| 14 | małopolskie | 84 days | 21% | 5 918 |
| 15 | kujawsko-pomorskie | 89 days | 28% | 3 686 |
| 16 | podkarpackie | 93 days | 23% | 5 801 |
The difference between first and last place in this table is usually several dozen days. If you live near a regional border, checking the neighbouring region is often the simplest way to shorten the wait.
Ten cities with the shortest waiting lists
| City | Average | Waiting lists |
|---|---|---|
| Warta | 1 day | 468 |
| Zamość | 20 days | 520 |
| Przemyśl | 25 days | 676 |
| Zgierz | 26 days | 474 |
| Starogard Gdański | 28 days | 424 |
| Gniezno | 30 days | 610 |
| Łódź-Górna | 33 days | 869 |
| Lublin | 34 days | 1 770 |
| Łódź-Widzew | 36 days | 749 |
| Łódź-Bałuty | 41 days | 596 |
Ten cities with the longest waiting lists
| City | Average | Waiting lists |
|---|---|---|
| Krosno | 269 days | 873 |
| Puławy | 152 days | 474 |
| Pabianice | 107 days | 413 |
| Bielsko-Biała | 104 days | 421 |
| Kraków-Krowodrza | 103 days | 502 |
| Sosnowiec | 86 days | 401 |
| Toruń | 86 days | 530 |
| Bydgoszcz | 85 days | 1 250 |
| Opole | 78 days | 583 |
| Kraków | 77 days | 1 168 |
A big city does not mean a short waiting list. It has more facilities, but also more patients, and it often serves a whole region. Sometimes a district hospital forty kilometres away takes patients two months earlier.
Lift, ramp, car park
NFZ collects information about accessibility from facilities. We have put it together by region, because for somebody in a wheelchair, or travelling with a parent after a stroke, it can matter more than two weeks of difference in the appointment date.
| Region | Lift | Ramp | Car park | Facilities with data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| podlaskie | 72% | 93% | 68% | 1 461 |
| mazowieckie | 70% | 94% | 68% | 6 489 |
| świętokrzyskie | 69% | 92% | 86% | 1 669 |
| lubelskie | 66% | 93% | 77% | 2 989 |
| zachodniopomorskie | 66% | 86% | 76% | 1 904 |
| dolnośląskie | 65% | 86% | 83% | 3 685 |
| pomorskie | 65% | 84% | 83% | 2 328 |
| małopolskie | 65% | 79% | 72% | 3 944 |
| warmińsko-mazurskie | 64% | 91% | 79% | 1 778 |
| kujawsko-pomorskie | 63% | 90% | 71% | 2 651 |
| wielkopolskie | 63% | 87% | 73% | 3 954 |
| śląskie | 62% | 86% | 79% | 5 750 |
| łódzkie | 61% | 79% | 71% | 3 342 |
| lubuskie | 56% | 76% | 87% | 1 152 |
| opolskie | 55% | 77% | 82% | 1 290 |
| podkarpackie | 50% | 70% | 82% | 3 385 |
This is data declared by the facilities, not an audit. If an accessibility feature decides whether you can come at all, confirm it by phone.