Starting July 1, 2026, the Polish Ministry of Health will launch a centralized electronic registration system designed to curb the practice of booking multiple specialist appointments simultaneously and shorten waiting times.
Cracking Down on Multiple Bookings
The Ministry of Health is introducing a new system to organize patient queues and prevent individuals from booking multiple appointments for the same service across different clinics. The Central Electronic Registration (CER) system will integrate data nationwide, allowing the National Health Fund (NFZ) to automatically identify and remove patients who are registered in several places at once.
This change addresses a long-standing issue that has paralyzed specialist care access. While some patients hope for faster treatment, others fear losing their backup appointments at various facilities.
Centralized Management of Specialist Queues
Under the new regulations, the CER will function as a unified mechanism for scheduling NFZ-funded services. If a patient cannot secure an immediate appointment, they will be placed in a central waiting list. The system will automatically remove patients from the queue if it detects duplicate bookings for the same medical procedure.
Healthcare providers will be required to share their schedules with the central system, giving patients visibility over available slots in one place. Cardiology will be among the first areas subject to this new registration framework.
Reduced Patient Flexibility
The reform limits a patient’s ability to choose later appointment dates. The system will assign dates based on availability in the provider’s schedule, rather than allowing patients to select a time that better fits their personal or professional obligations.
Automated Reporting and Oversight
The Ministry is moving away from manual reports currently submitted by clinics and hospitals. Instead, the NFZ will calculate projected waiting times using real-time data from the central system. Officials argue this will increase data accuracy and prevent the manipulation of queue statistics, which have long been criticized for failing to reflect actual wait times.