Do I have to agree to a procedure?
Correct. The other way round.No
The decision is yours — once you have received full information. For surgery and for higher-risk procedures, consent must be given in writing.
Path · five situations
For patients.
Five situations in which it helps to know where you stand. Choose yours or go through them in order. Each one has something you can check straight away.
PLN 0first copy of your medical recordsArticle 28 of the Act on patient rights01 · My rights
What am I entitled to?
Patient rights are easiest to check on specific questions, and each answer cites the article of the act. See how many you know before you read the whole page.
Yes or no?
Can I ask for a second opinion?
Correct. The other way round.Yes
You can demand a consultation with another doctor or a panel of doctors (konsylium). The doctor may refuse, but must record the refusal in your medical records.
The hospital wants to charge me for staying with my child. Is it allowed to?
Correct. The other way round.No
The hospital may not charge for a parent or carer staying with a child or with a person with a severe degree of disability.
Can someone close to me be with me?
Correct. The other way round.Yes
At your request — including during an examination. A refusal is allowed for only two reasons and must be recorded in your medical records.
There are students or other people at my examination. Do I have to agree?
Correct. The other way round.No
You have the right to respect for your privacy and dignity. People who are not providing your care — students, for example — may be present only with your consent.
I am in pain. Is pain relief my right?
Correct. The other way round.Yes
Yes, it is written into the act. The facility must assess how severe the pain is, treat it and check whether the treatment works.
0 of 6 correct
All the rights, with the article of the act for each answer and a sentence you can calmly say in the surgery, are on one page.
Prefer the answers straight away? All the rights are on one page.
Read more
Next: How does the emergency department queue work?
5urgency categories, each with its own time limitregulation on emergency departments02 · Urgent
How does the emergency department queue work?
The order depends on your state of health, not on when you arrived. After an initial assessment, called triage, you get one of five urgency categories, and each has a longest permitted time to a doctor.
What colour will you get after triage?
immediately
Red · highest priority
02 hrs4 hrs
up to 10 min
Orange · high priority
02 hrs4 hrs
up to 60 min
Yellow · medium priority
02 hrs4 hrs
up to 120 min
Green · low priority
02 hrs4 hrs
up to 240 min
Blue · lowest priority
02 hrs4 hrs
- A patient in a more serious condition will go ahead of others, even if they arrived later.
- After triage, staff are required to tell you your assigned category, the number of people ahead of you and the longest expected waiting time.
- Staff reassess those waiting at least every 90 minutes, and the category may change. If you feel worse, say so straight away.
- The emergency department may refer you to primary care, including night and holiday care. The rules are set out in the hospital’s regulations.
The map of all departments shows how many people are waiting for a doctor and whether the time is within the limit.Queue map →
Longest permitted time to a doctor: regulation on hospital emergency departments, § 6(9–14). One field is 10 minutes.
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Next: Is everything right on my account?
>1,600justified patient reports about IKP entries in 2024NFZ via Rynek Zdrowia03 · My account
Is everything right on my account?
The National Health Fund (NFZ) pays for an entry in the system, not for the visit as such. You can check refunded visits from 2008 onwards in your Internet Patient Account (IKP). Below you can see the way there step by step before you log in.
The way to your visit history, step by step
Does an entry not add up?
In “Szczegóły” (details), choose “Zgłoś nieprawidłowość” (report an irregularity), fill in your contact details and send it. The report goes to the regional NFZ branch.
First rule out two false alarms: a teleconsultation is also recorded as a visit, and with subcontracting another facility’s name may appear even though the date is right.
These are only screenshots: you do not log in to anything here. Reports in 2024: almost 3,500 objections, more than 1,600 of them justified. Source: NFZ via Rynek Zdrowia.
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Next: Why am I waiting so long?
4.2months on average for a specialist appointmentWHC Barometer, Sep/Oct 202504 · Waiting
Why am I waiting so long?
Costs in the NFZ plan have roughly doubled since 2015 after inflation, and the average wait has grown by about 43%. Money alone cannot quickly be turned into doctors: it takes 11 to 13 years from admission to medical school to the specialist title, and shortages concern specific places and fields. Those who do not want to wait pay at the private practice next door.
You sign up today. Who for?
4.2 months
Visit around — Estimate
PLN 231.52 (≈ €53): the average price of a private visit to a specialist in 2025.
The number next to each name is months, and one field is a month in the queue. This is a calculation on an average, not your appointment: today’s date plus the average waiting time. Sources: WHC Barometer, Sep/Oct 2025, Statistics Poland (GUS), Local Data Bank, NFZ budget and queues, Why Poland is short of doctors.
Read more
- Private visits: the longer the waiting list, the higher the priceStart here
- NFZ budget and queues, year by year12 min
- Why Poland is short of doctors12 min
- One doctor, two price lists: public and private healthcare22 min
- Money per patient in primary care: a public rate, an unknown result8 min
- Pharmacies and prescriptions: public and private money11 min
8situations, each with its own addressfull description on the patient rights page05 · Something went wrong
Where do I take this?
Institutions do not pass cases on to each other, and a report sent to the wrong address is lost. Each situation shows who will deal with it. Expand it to see how much time you have and what it costs.
What happened?
My rights were not respectedWhere to: Patient Ombudsman (Rzecznik Praw Pacjenta)
- How
- By phone, by e-mail (kancelaria@rpp.gov.pl), via the ePUAP e-government platform (/RzPP/skrytka) or by post: ul. Płocka 11/13, 01-231 Warszawa.
- Cost
- Free of charge — an application to the Ombudsman is exempt from fees (art. 50 ust. 2).
- On site
- If the facility has a patient rights representative (pełnomocnik do spraw praw pacjenta), you can start there — they take part in handling complaints (art. 40a). However, they report to the head of the facility, so they are not independent in the way the Ombudsman is.
I was told to pay for treatment funded by the NFZWhere to: Regional branch of the NFZ (oddział wojewódzki NFZ)
- Deadline
- The NFZ replies within 30 days. If it asks you to supply missing information, you have 7 days — otherwise the case will not be considered.
- How
- The form at skargi-i-wnioski.nfz.gov.pl (in Polish), in person at the branch, by post or via ePUAP.
- Cost
- Free of charge.
My IKP shows a visit that never happenedWhere to: A report in the Internet Patient Account (Internetowe Konto Pacjenta, IKP)
- How
- pacjent.gov.pl → Historia leczenia (Treatment history) → Historia wizyt (Visit history) → Szczegóły (Details) → “Zgłoś nieprawidłowość” (Report an irregularity). It takes a few minutes.
- Cost
- Free of charge.
- What next
- The report goes to the NFZ branch, which looks into the matter. Do not report the same thing twice — it only delays the investigation.
I disagree with a doctor’s rulingWhere to: Medical Commission at the Patient Ombudsman (Komisja Lekarska przy Rzeczniku Praw Pacjenta)
- Deadline
- 30 days from the date the opinion or ruling is issued. The deadline is strict.
- How
- You file the objection through the Ombudsman, not directly with the Commission. It must give reasons and indicate the provision from which your rights or obligations arise — without this it will be returned to you.
- What next
- The Commission rules within 30 days. There is no appeal against its decision, so you get one attempt — prepare it carefully (art. 31).
Treatment harmed me. I want compensationWhere to: Compensation Fund at the Patient Ombudsman (Fundusz Kompensacyjny przy RPP) or a civil court
- Deadline
- Fund: one year from learning of the harm, at the latest 3 years from the event. Court: 3 years from learning of the harm and of who is responsible for it.
- Harm in hospital
- For an event on or after 6 September 2023 you can choose the Fund: faster, without court and without proving fault, but with an upper limit on the amount.
- Any other situation
- A civil court — damages and compensation for harm suffered, without a statutory limit.
A doctor made a mistake or behaved unethicallyWhere to: Regional disciplinary prosecutor (okręgowy rzecznik odpowiedzialności zawodowej) at the medical chamber
- Deadline
- Proceedings cannot be opened after 3 years from the act (art. 64 ust. 1 of the Act on Medical Chambers) — file your complaint earlier so that the prosecutor has time.
- How
- To the regional disciplinary prosecutor of the medical chamber the doctor belongs to: your details, the date and place of the event, a description and the doctor’s details.
- Good to know
- These are disciplinary proceedings: they can lead to the doctor being penalised, but will not get you any money. The complaint is handled by the medical self-government — the same structure acts as both prosecutor and court. We describe this mechanism.
Someone wants a bribe, or I suspect a crimeWhere to: Police, public prosecutor’s office or the CBA
- How
- A notification at any police unit or district prosecutor’s office (prokuratura rejonowa) — in writing or orally, for the record.
- Corruption
- Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA): +48 800 808 808 (24 hours a day), sygnal@cba.gov.pl.
- Good to know
- A person who gave a bribe is not punished if the benefit was accepted and they themselves notified the authorities before the authorities learned of it, and disclosed all the relevant circumstances. All the conditions must be met together (art. 229 § 6 k.k.).
A medicine caused harm, a dirty facility, concerns about a facilityWhere to: URPL, the sanitary inspectorate (sanepid) or the voivode (wojewoda)
- A medicine caused harm
- Report an adverse reaction — this is your right. Using the form of the Office for Registration of Medicinal Products (Urząd Rejestracji Produktów Leczniczych, URPL), through a doctor, nurse or pharmacist, or to the manufacturer (address in the leaflet).
- Dirt, infections
- Sanitary inspectorate (sanepid): e.sanepid.gov.pl or the mObywatel app, 24 hours a day.
- The facility itself
- Supervision is exercised by the voivode (wojewoda) — the health department of the voivodeship office (urząd wojewódzki). Public register of facilities: rpwdl2.ezdrowie.gov.pl.
The routes do not exclude each other. A complaint to the medical self-government can lead to the doctor being penalised, but it will not get you any money. The Patient Ombudsman will deal with a violation of your rights, but will not award damages. One important link: accepting a benefit from the Fund closes the route to court.
Read more
- Where to report a breach of patient rightsStart here
- How Poland’s medical courts work14 min
- Poland’s harshest penalty for doctors is almost never imposed16 min
- Game: do you rule like a medical court? (in Polish)
Take it with you
Pocket card
The most important rights, deadlines and numbers on a single card: for your handbag, for the folder with your medical records or for a parent. You print it on an ordinary sheet of A4, cut it and fold it.
This is not legal advice. We have collected what follows directly from the acts and from the official websites of public authorities, with links to the sources. For your own case, call the free helpline — it is answered by people who do this professionally.
Euro amounts are approximate, converted at the National Bank of Poland mid rate of 6 November 2026 (table 217/A/NBP/2026): 1 EUR = 4.3925 PLN.