Health. National Health Fund report: increasingly long queues for specialist clinics

The annual report on the activities of the National Health Fund for 2023 has been published on the Sejm website. Its most important part is information on the availability of services financed by National Health Fund.

The report shows that last year patients had the longest waiting times at specialist clinics: endocrinology, gastroenterology, cardiology, ophthalmology and allergology.

Half of the stable patients waited 190 days or longer to see an endocrinologist (median average actual waiting time was 190 days).

In addition, the waiting time increased by 16 days compared to 2022 and by 51 days compared to 2021. Patients requiring an urgent visit also waited longer. In 2023, it was 55 days, which is 12 days longer compared to 2022 and 23 days longer compared to 2021.

Half of the stable patients waited 153 days or longer (79 days – urgent cases) for a visit to a gastroenterologist. In the case of a cardiology clinic – 110 days (34 days – urgent cases), an ophthalmology clinic – 86 days (9 days – urgent cases), and an allergology clinic – 79 days (14 days – urgent cases).

Also in the case of these clinics, the waiting time for an appointment has increased in stable and urgent cases. In 2022, it was: in the case of the gastroenterology clinic 124 days (41 – urgent cases), in the cardiology clinic 104 days (40 – urgent cases), in the ophthalmology clinic 76 days (2 – urgent cases), in the allergy clinic 74 days (8 – urgent cases).

The National Health Fund points out that the waiting time for these services has increased despite the fact that more and more patients are receiving them.

Patients requiring hospital treatment waited the longest for admission to the following departments: otolaryngology, trauma and orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, gastroenterology and rheumatology. Half of the patients waited 124 days or longer for admission to the otolaryngology department in a stable case (13 days in urgent cases). For the trauma and orthopedic surgery department – 79 days (20 days), neurosurgery – 60 days (13 days), gastroenterology – 60 days (11 days), rheumatology – 56 days (22 days).

Half of the stable patients waited for admission to the neurotic disorders treatment ward for 108 days or longer (0 days – urgent cases). In turn, for an appointment at the clinic for people with childhood autism – 30 days or longer (0 days – urgent cases), to the neurotic treatment clinic – 31 days (0 days – urgent cases), to the psychogeriatric clinic – 106 days (22 days – urgent cases), to the mental health clinic – 29 days (0 days – urgent cases).

Half of the patients waited 193 days for systemic rehabilitation in stationary conditions (43 days – urgent cases). 25% of patients waited for this service for over a year and nine months.

The National Health Fund notes that most of the reasons for limited access to services are nationwide and are related to, among other things, an insufficient number of doctors of a specific specialty, e.g. geriatricians, psychiatrists, endocrinologists or pediatric diabetologists. The National Health Fund notes that there are also regional reasons related primarily to an insufficient number of places providing a given type of service.

In 2023, expenditure on providing primary health care (PHC) services amounted to PLN 18.1 billion. 180.4 million consultations were provided to 28.7 million patients. Coordinated care was provided to 13.2 million patients, or 39% of the population in primary health care. The value of contracts in outpatient specialist care (specialist clinics – PAP) amounted to PLN 8.8 billion. Over 17.5 million patients used the services, and the total number of all consultations in 2023 amounted to approx. 89.9 million. The value of contracts for hospital treatment amounted to PLN 92.1 billion. Approximately 17.3 million services were provided.