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The Watch Health Care Foundation has published the WHC Barometer, a report on the availability of guaranteed health services in Poland. It shows that in September 2021, the average waiting time for a service (a visit to a specialist or a diagnostic test) was 3,4 months. The longest lines were to the vascular surgeon, neurosurgeon and endocrinologist.
- The waiting time for benefits under the NZF is shorter than it was at the beginning of 2019.
- It is a bit better, but “the average waiting time for an appointment is still high” – according to a report prepared by the Watch Health Care Foundation
- Queues, e.g. to cardiologists, are longer. Currently, you have to wait over four months for an appointment
- More such information can be found on the Onet homepage
“We will try to shorten the lines to the doctors”
Queues to see a doctor have long been one of the biggest problems of the public health care system in Poland. Many months of waiting for an appointment with a specialist or examination are the bane of many patients. The situation is not improved by staff shortages and a very small number of doctors per population.
A few months ago, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced the first change resulting from the Polish Agreement in the field of health services. – From July 1, we are lifting all admission limits for specialists and this will be the standard that we are implementing. We will try to unload queues, shorten these queues first of all, I can at least promise you at the beginning – said Morawiecki.
The medical community was skeptical about these announcements. – The decision itself is right. Outpatient specialist care should be the cornerstone of the healthcare system. However, the queues will not disappear, because in Poland we have an extreme shortage of doctors and it is simply impossible to physically supply these unlimited admissions – Dr. Bartosz Fiałek assessed this move.
Have the lines really shortened? The answer to this question can to some extent be provided by «WHC Barometer, or Report on changes in the availability of guaranteed health services ». This is a document developed by the Watch Health Care Foundation presenting the availability of doctors based on data collected in September 2021.
The report contains information on 43 fields of medicine in the field of the so-called index benefits and compares them with the situation in the health care system at the turn of December 2018 and January 2019, i.e. before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
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As emphasized by the authors of the report, “WHC barometer presents the results from the patient’s perspective – it shows the barriers of access to services through the eyes of the patient, that is, how a sick person encounters these barriers”. Information was collected and verified in over 1,5 thousand. medical facilities having a contract with the National Health Fund.
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Which doctors are the longest queues for?
The authors of the report write at the outset that «the average waiting time for a single benefit in September 2021 was 3,4 months (i.e. approx. 3 months and 12 days) and compared to December 2018 / January 2019, it decreased by 0,4 months (approx. 12 days).
However, they point out that «The observed change does not significantly improve access to services«. According to their assessment, “the results presented show a short-term improvement that does not significantly change the long-term trend in this area”, and the average waiting time “remains high”.
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In which specializations is the situation the worst? The longest time patients have to wait for benefits in the field orthopedics and traumatology of the musculoskeletal system, where the average waiting time was about 10,5 months. We will also wait long in the queue for services in the field plastic surgery (8,1 months) and neurosurgery (7,5 months). We have to wait more than half a year for an appointment with an angiologist (6,1 months), and it takes almost as long to wait for a vascular surgeon (5,7 months).
What are the best specializations? The shortest time, patients have to wait for a service in the field of neonatology (0,4 months), pediatric urology (0,4 months) i oncological radiotherapy (0,5 months).
When it comes to visiting a specialist, the longest queue is until vascular surgeon (10,5 months), neurosurgeon (9,6 months) and endocrinologist (7,6 months).
The shortest waiting time is to see a specialist oncology (0,1 month), pediatrician (0,1 month), pediatric urologist (0,2 month) and gynecologist (0,2 month)
In which specializations has the access been extended?
The WHC barometer also presents detailed data on changes in access to individual specialists. The foundation’s data show that the greatest increase in the average waiting time compared to the previous analyzed period (i.e. December 2018 / January 2019) was recorded in the following areas: cardiology, otolaryngology and children’s surgery.
Currently, the average waiting time for cardiology services is 4,2 months (2,7 more than before). The authors of the report provide specific examples. They emphasize that “a 39-year-old man with general weakness, frequent feeling of palpitations and dizziness, and arrhythmia confirmed by a family doctor, will wait 2,7 months longer for an appointment with a specialist compared to the previous period”. On the other hand, “a 60-year-old woman with an ECG of slow sinus rhythm and sinus arrhythmia will wait more than 5 months for transstageal Doppler echocardiography”. On the other hand, «a man aged 50 with cardiac arrhythmias, where the cause of the symptoms has not been found in non-invasive diagnostics (ECG, ECHO of the heart, stress tests), will wait an average of 4,1 months for an electrophysiological examination of the heart (EPS). Access time to tests such as transthoracic echocardiography or Holter ECG has also been extended.
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In otolaryngology, the average waiting time for benefits is now 5,2 months (2 months longer than before). «The greatest limitation within the field is mainly due to the long queues for all procedures / operations assessed in this field: ossicular reconstruction (8,1 months), removal of the palatine tonsils (6,2 months), surgical removal of concrements from the salivary gland ducts (6,0 months) and the surgery to remove cholesteatoma (3,9 months) »explain the authors of the report.
In pediatric surgery, there was an increase in the average waiting time of 1,8 months. «Currently, to obtain pediatric surgery services, you have to wait on average 4,2 months, compared to 2019 months in December / January 2,4».
The lines were also extended in such specialties as plastic surgery (by 1,2 months), maxillofacial surgery (by 1,2 months), general surgery (by 0,9 months), paediatrics (by 0,9 months), lung diseases (by 0,8 months), dermatology (by 0,8 months) and cardiac surgery (by 0,7 months)
Queues for doctors. Where has things improved?
Compared to December 2018 / January 2019, the queue for medical services in 19 specialties was shortened. This mainly concerns endocrinology (decrease by 8,2 months), pediatric cardiology (decrease by 5,2 months), dentistry (decrease by 4,2 months), rheumatology (4,1 months), pediatric urology (3,7 months ) and immunology (3,2 months).
The shortening of the waiting time for an endocrinologist appointment from 24,2 to 7,6 months had the greatest impact on the average waiting time for an endocrinological service. In the field of endocrinology, only thyroid nodule biopsy has deteriorated significantly. However, the authors of the report point out that “although in the field of endocrinology we see a decrease in the average waiting time, it should be emphasized that services in this field still have to wait an average of 3,4 months”.
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When it comes to pediatric cardiology, the average waiting time for services in this area has fallen from 7,3 to 2,1 months (“this is the best result in this area since the beginning of 2014”).
In dentistry, the average waiting time for a service in September 2021 was 4 months. This is an improvement of 4,2 months and the best result in this area since spring 2013.
Queue shortening has also been observed in palliative medicine, gastroenterology, psychiatry, infectious diseases, geriatrics, pediatric neurology, urology, angiology, internal diseases, radiology and imaging diagnostics, allergology, neurology and pediatric otolaryngology.
No significant changes in the queues for healthcare services compared to the results of the previous report were recorded in 14 out of 43 analyzed areas. These are i.a. vascular surgery, oncological surgery, diabetology, oncological gynecology, neurology, neurosurgery and ophthalmology.
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