Doctors are only part of the system. The largest occupational group in healthcare is nurses and midwives, and alongside them work paramedics, laboratory diagnosticians, physiotherapists, pharmacists and medical caregivers. Their salaried pay is set by a single statutory scale — and that is an important point of reference, because this part of pay is known.
The pay ladder from 1 July 2026
Where the individual professions stand in the scale. The amounts are the statutory minimum base pay for employees — excluding on-call duty, overtime and allowances for length of service, night work or a function.2 Actual payments are usually higher.
From PLN 7,657 to PLN 12,910 — the minimum base pay of salaried staff from 1 July 2026
| Group and professions | Coefficient | Minimum base pay |
|---|---|---|
| Group 1Doctor or dentist with a specialisationThe top of the scale. | ×1.45 | 12,910.16 PLN/month |
| Group 2Nurse, midwife, laboratory diagnostician, physiotherapist, pharmacist — master’s degree with a specialisationThe highest group for nurses and midwives; clinical psychologists are also here. | ×1.29 | 11,485.59 PLN/month |
| Group 3Doctor or dentist without a specialisation | ×1.19 | 10,595.24 PLN/month |
| Group 5Nurse, midwife — master’s degree without a specialisation, or bachelor’s degree or secondary education with a specialisationAlso physiotherapists and diagnosticians with a master’s degree, and psychologists. | ×1.02 | 9,081.63 PLN/month |
| Group 4Intern doctorThe minimum is almost equal to group 6. | ×0.95 | 8,458.38 PLN/month |
| Group 6Nurse, midwife — bachelor’s degree or secondary education without a specialisation; paramedicAlso physiotherapists with a bachelor’s degree. A paramedic does not move higher in the scale — moving up is the profession’s long-standing demand. | ×0.94 | 8,369.35 PLN/month |
| Group 7Medical caregiver, technician with secondary education | ×0.86 | 7,657.06 PLN/month |
The coefficients come from the annex to the act;1 the amounts for all groups are also confirmed by LEX.3 Nurses and midwives fall into group 2, 5 or 6 depending on education and specialisation, explains the self-government of nurses and midwives.4 The minimums for these groups were reported by Rzeczpospolita.5
Nurses and midwives — the largest group
This is the largest profession in the system6 and at the same time the oldest demographically.7 The amounts in the scale need to be read in this context.
333,336nurses
in the register; in addition 43,965 midwives — 377,301 people in total
ExactNIPiP, 31.12.2025
~220thousand
nurses work directly with patients — one in three people in the register does not work with patients
5.9per 1,000 pop.
working nurses in Poland, against an OECD average of 9.2 — one of the lowest results
34%
of registered nurses were 61 or older in January 2023. A different measure: according to a 2022 forecast, by 2030, 65% of the nurses employed in 2022 will reach retirement age
ExactNIPiP, 2023 report
The average age of a nurse today is about 55.8 The professional self-government forecasts that in 2023–2030 the number of nurses and midwives will fall by more than 26,000, because fewer people enter the profession than leave it.9
A fair counterpoint: in OECD statistics10 Polish nurses earn about 160% of the average wage in the country, which is relatively high.11 This, however, is relative to the low Polish average — the same one we discuss for doctors in the analysis Doctors’ pay: Poland compared with its neighbours.
Outside employment: nurses’ contracts
Like doctors, some nurses work under contracts. And as with doctors, these rates are covered neither by the act nor by any public register. The amounts below are offers from job advertisements and estimates by industry portals, not payments.1213
80PLN/h
typical rate offered to a nurse under a contract; range about PLN 40–100/h, highest in hospital emergency departments (SOR)
Estimatepielegniarki.info.pl
140PLN/h
top rate for anaesthesia nurses in private chains (PLN 110–140/h); on a full rota about PLN 24,000–34,000 gross a month
EstimateWsparcie dla Szpitala, 2026
Nobody publishes contract amounts — and this applies to all staff, not only doctors. Transparency of pay from public funds should cover everyone paid from those funds. That is the core of our proposal.
Other professions: numbers and the market
A short overview of the rest of the medical staff. The numbers come from professional registers and Statistics Poland (GUS).14 The “Market” column is the median or range of total pay from pay reports — an estimate, often based on small samples, and therefore a different measurement from the statutory minimum base pay in the scale.15 The place in the scale depends on education and specialisation.
| Profession | Number | Market: median or range | Group in the scale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paramedic | 11,400in emergency medical teams; there is no full number of those entitled to practise — the paramedics’ self-government register is only being set upStatistics Poland 2024 | PLN 9,850median total gross pay; small sample (64 people)EstimateSedlak & Sedlak, January 2026 | 6 |
| Laboratory diagnostician | 18,168with a licence to practise (31.12.2023)KIDL via Rynek Zdrowia | PLN 7,820median total gross pay; sample of 150 peopleEstimateSedlak & Sedlak, January 2026 | 5; 2 with a specialisation |
| Physiotherapist | over 75,000fewer than 29,000 work under contracts with the National Health Fund (NFZ)KIF via Rynek Zdrowia | PLN 7,690median total gross pay; sample of 342 peopleEstimateSedlak & Sedlak, January 2026 | 6, 5 or 2 |
| Pharmacist | 39,600with a licence to practise; 26,200 work in pharmaciesStatistics Poland 2024 via mgr.farm | PLN 5,500–10,000+community pharmacy, which the act does not cover; industry estimateEstimateFarmacja Praktyczna | 5 or 2 — in a healthcare provider |
| Midwife | 43,965registered, of whom 30,682 employed (31.12.2025)NIPiP | about PLN 5,455 netaverage from the self-government’s survey — net, so not comparable with gross amountsEstimateNIPiP, 2023 report | 2, 5 or 6 — as for a nurse |
| Clinical psychologist | 1,258specialists; how many psychologists work in healthcare is not known — the profession has no registerMinistry of Health via Rynek Zdrowia | —no median for this profession in a publicly available source | 5 or 2 |
Notes 15laws, data and statements we relied on
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Act of 8 June 2017 on the method of determining the minimum base salary of certain employees of healthcare providers (ISAP, in Polish), with the annex setting the coefficients for occupational groups. ↩ ↩2
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Rynek Zdrowia, “Od 1 lipca 12 910 zł dla lekarzy, 11 485 zł dla pielęgniarek — pełna siatka podwyżek” (“From 1 July PLN 12,910 for doctors, PLN 11,485 for nurses — the full scale of raises”, in Polish), 01.07.2026. ↩
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LEX, “Podwyżki wynagrodzeń w ochronie zdrowia od 1 lipca 2026 r.” (“Pay rises in healthcare from 1 July 2026”, in Polish) ↩
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NIPiP, “Pytania o ustawę o najniższym wynagrodzeniu — grupy zawodowe pielęgniarek i położnych” (“Questions about the minimum pay act — occupational groups of nurses and midwives”, in Polish). ↩
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Rzeczpospolita, “9081 zł z licencjatem i specjalizacją — nowe pensje minimalne pielęgniarek w 2026 r.” (“PLN 9,081 with a bachelor’s degree and a specialisation — nurses’ new minimum pay in 2026”, in Polish) ↩
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NIPiP, “Liczba pielęgniarek i położnych zarejestrowanych i zatrudnionych” (“Number of registered and employed nurses and midwives”, in Polish), as of 31.12.2025. ↩
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NIPiP, “Raport o stanie pielęgniarstwa i położnictwa w Polsce” (“Report on the state of nursing and midwifery in Poland”, in Polish), May 2023, pp. 11–12 and chart 3: 34% of registered nurses aged 61 and over (25.3% aged 61–70 and 8.7% over 70; data from the Central Register of Nurses and Midwives from January 2023). On the same page the report cites the NIPiP forecast of April 2022: by 2030, 65% of the nurses employed at the time of the forecast will reach retirement age. This is a different group (employed, not registered) and a different base year, so the two figures should not be combined into one series. ↩
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Bankier.pl, “Średnia wieku pielęgniarek to 55 lat” (“The average age of nurses is 55”, in Polish) — Statistics Poland data for 2024, also on nurses working directly with patients. ↩
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NIPiP, “Do 2030 r. liczba pielęgniarek i położnych zmniejszy się o ponad 26 tys.” (“By 2030 the number of nurses and midwives will fall by more than 26,000”, in Polish), 09.02.2024. ↩
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Rynek Zdrowia, OECD Health at a Glance 2025 — doctors, nurses and carers compared with the OECD average (in Polish). ↩
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Gazeta Prawna, Polish nurses compared with Europe in OECD statistics — pay relative to the national average (in Polish). ↩
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pielegniarki.info.pl, “Pielęgniarki pracujące na kontraktach — wysokość stawek godzinowych” (“Nurses working under contracts — hourly rates”, in Polish). ↩
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Wsparcie dla Szpitala, “Pielęgniarka anestezjologiczna — zarobki i specjalizacja” (“Anaesthesia nurse — pay and specialisation”, in Polish), 2026. ↩
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Numbers in the table. Paramedics: Statistics Poland, “Pomoc doraźna i ratownictwo medyczne w 2024 r.” (“Emergency care and emergency medical services in 2024”, in Polish). Diagnosticians: KIDL via Rynek Zdrowia, “W Polsce jest ponad 18 tys. diagnostów laboratoryjnych” (“There are more than 18,000 laboratory diagnosticians in Poland”, in Polish). Physiotherapists: KIF via Rynek Zdrowia, “W Polsce pracuje ponad 75 tys. fizjoterapeutów, w ramach umów z NFZ — 29 tys.” (“More than 75,000 physiotherapists work in Poland, 29,000 under contracts with the NFZ”, in Polish). Pharmacists: Statistics Poland 2024 via mgr.farm, “Prawie 40 tys. farmaceutów w Polsce — ilu pracuje z pacjentami” (“Almost 40,000 pharmacists in Poland — how many work with patients”, in Polish). Midwives: NIPiP, “Liczba pielęgniarek i położnych zarejestrowanych i zatrudnionych” (“Number of registered and employed nurses and midwives”, in Polish). Clinical psychologists: Ministry of Health via Rynek Zdrowia, “1258 psychologów klinicznych w Polsce” (“1,258 clinical psychologists in Poland”, in Polish), 2025. ↩
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Market pay in the table. Sedlak & Sedlak, January 2026: “Ile zarabia ratownik medyczny” (“How much a paramedic earns”), “Ile zarabia diagnosta laboratoryjny” (“How much a laboratory diagnostician earns”), “Ile zarabia fizjoterapeuta” (“How much a physiotherapist earns”), all in Polish. Pharmacists: Farmacja Praktyczna, “Ile zarabia farmaceuta w Polsce — raport” (“How much a pharmacist earns in Poland — report”, in Polish). Midwives: NIPiP, “Raport o stanie pielęgniarstwa i położnictwa w Polsce” (“Report on the state of nursing and midwifery in Poland”, in Polish), May 2023. ↩