When it pays to look around
For some medical services the choice of facility changes a year, for others it changes nothing
Comparing facilities does not always pay off. For some medical services the wait is similar everywhere and calling around is a waste of time. For others, choosing the clinic next door cuts the wait by a year.
Here the choice changes the most
For every medical service we calculated the average gap between the fastest and the slowest facility in the same city. We take into account cities with at least five facilities, and medical services present in at least ten such cities.
| Medical service | Średnia difference of in | Miast w zestawieniu |
|---|---|---|
| Orthodontic clinic (NFZ-funded care for children and young people up to the age of 18) | 416 days | 16 |
| Therapeutic knee arthroscopy | 404 days | 11 |
| Treatment with an orthodontic appliance | 399 days | 21 |
| Surgery to remove varicose veins of the lower limb | 398 days | 11 |
| Day medical rehabilitation centre | 371 days | 20 |
| Prosthetic dental treatment | 366 days | 193 |
| Arthroscopic reconstruction of the cruciate ligaments | 338 days | 10 |
| Gastroenterology services | 290 days | 10 |
| Surgical treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome | 275 days | 11 |
| Endocrinology services | 269 days | 25 |
| Ophthalmology services | 256 days | 99 |
| Outpatient physiotherapy | 232 days | 98 |
| Day treatment ward | 229 days | 12 |
| Inguinal hernia surgery | 220 days | 15 |
| Neurology services | 198 days | 80 |
And here comparing gives you little
| Medical service | Średnia difference of in | Miast |
|---|---|---|
| Psychiatric ward (general) | 22 days | 16 |
| Treatment of retinal diseases (AMD, DME) | 39 days | 12 |
| Obstetrics and gynaecology clinic | 79 days | 98 |
| Dental clinic for children | 85 days | 24 |
| General surgery clinic | 94 days | 51 |
| Allergology clinic | 106 days | 19 |
| Speech therapy clinic | 109 days | 21 |
| Internal medicine ward | 111 days | 10 |
The conclusion is simple: the more planned the procedure, the more sense it makes to look around. For prosthetics, orthodontics and varicose vein surgery the differences run into hundreds of days, because facilities have very different contracts and very different workloads.