Seeing a gynaecologist in Poland: a guide for English-speaking patients

Public healthcare in Poland is funded by the NFZ, the Polish National Health Fund. It is the counterpart of the NHS, with one big difference: your right to use it depends on paying health insurance contributions, not on living here. If you work on an employment contract (umowa o pracę), on a contract of mandate (umowa zlecenie) with contributions, or run a business, you are insured automatically and can add your spouse and children. If you are registered as unemployed, you are insured too.

If none of that applies, you can take out voluntary insurance with the NFZ. You sign an agreement at the regional NFZ office and pay a monthly contribution of 9% of a declared income, which cannot be lower than the average wage in the business sector; in the third quarter of 2026 the minimum works out at roughly 850 zł a month. Students from outside the EU and EFTA pay a reduced flat rate, currently 55.80 zł a month, and are not charged the extra fee for a gap in cover that other people may have to pay. Citizens of Ukraine who arrived after February 2022 should know that the special rules expired on 5 March 2026: since then, access to the NFZ depends on the same insurance titles as for everyone else, with narrow exceptions, including pregnant women and children.

If you are insured in another EU or EFTA country or in the United Kingdom and you are in Poland temporarily, your EHIC (or the UK GHIC) entitles you to necessary, unplanned treatment in facilities that have a contract with the NFZ, on the same terms as Polish patients. Show the card at every appointment. If you live in Poland permanently and are insured abroad, register your S1 form at the regional NFZ office instead. Private clinics do not accept the EHIC: there you pay yourself.

One rule that surprises many patients from the UK: in Poland you do not need a referral to see a gynaecologist. Gynaecology and obstetrics are on the short list of specialties, together with psychiatry, oncology and dentistry, that you can go to directly, on the NFZ as well as privately. No GP letter, no gatekeeping.

You do not need any insurance to be seen privately. You book, you come, you pay on the day, by card or in cash, or online when you book if the clinic offers that. No referral, no PESEL number, no documents beyond your ID. This is how most of my patients see me in Sosnowiec and Zabrze.

How much it costs varies with the city and the doctor. As a rough guide, in 2026 a private appointment with a specialist in Poland usually costs somewhere between 150 and 350 zł, and an ultrasound scan may be priced separately. My current fees are listed on my ZnanyLekarz profile, which is also where you book, so you see the price before you confirm.

Many international employers in Silesia give their staff a private health package with Medicover, LUX MED or Enel-Med. These are separate networks with their own clinics and their own doctors. The clinics where I see patients, in Sosnowiec and Zabrze, are independent, so an appointment with me is not covered by those packages as such. If your package includes reimbursement for appointments outside the network, check the terms with your provider before you come.

The words overlap, so here is what they mean in practice.

Przychodnia is a health centre: a building with several outpatient clinics under one roof. Poradnia is one clinic within it, usually a specialist one, for example a poradnia ginekologiczna. In everyday speech people use the two words interchangeably, so do not worry if the receptionist says one and the sign says the other.

POZ (podstawowa opieka zdrowotna) is primary care: your GP practice. On the NFZ you register with a GP by signing a declaration. You do not need to go through your GP to see me.

Poradnia specjalistyczna is specialist outpatient care, where NFZ gynaecology happens. My NFZ clinic in Ogrodzieniec is one of these.

Szpital is a hospital, with wards (oddziały). SOR (szpitalny oddział ratunkowy) is A&E, for emergencies. Smaller hospitals without an SOR have an izba przyjęć, an admissions unit, which also takes emergencies.

Prywatny gabinet is a private consulting room, often one doctor. Centrum medyczne is a private medical centre with several specialists, such as the two where I see private patients.

Nocna i świąteczna opieka zdrowotna is the out-of-hours GP service, open from 18:00 to 8:00 on weekdays and around the clock at weekends and on public holidays. There is more on it in the section on emergencies.

Which one do you need? For a routine appointment, contraception, screening, menopause or a pregnancy check: a poradnia ginekologiczna on the NFZ, or a private centre. For something acute but not dangerous, out of hours: the out-of-hours service. For heavy bleeding, severe pain or anything that frightens you: the nearest hospital with a gynaecology and obstetrics ward, or 112.

ZnanyLekarz is Poland's main doctor-booking website. It belongs to Docplanner, the same group that runs Doctoralia in Spain and Latin America. Every doctor has a profile with an online calendar, prices, the languages they consult in, and reviews that patients can only leave after a verified appointment. You can filter by city and by the service “consultation in English” (konsultacja w języku angielskim). You choose a time, enter your name and phone number, and get a confirmation by text message and email. No phone call, no Polish needed.

This is how you book me in Sosnowiec and Zabrze. Reviews on my profile are verified and public, and I do not edit them.

Many clinics, and most NFZ clinics, still take bookings by phone. If nobody at reception speaks English, the sentences below will get you a long way. Speak slowly, spell your surname, and have your PESEL or passport number ready.

If the call goes nowhere, ask a Polish-speaking colleague to ring for you, or write to me through the contact form. NFZ appointments in Ogrodzieniec are booked by the clinic reception on +48 32 673 37 31; I do not book those myself.

Some NFZ facilities offer online booking on their own websites. Separately, everyone with a PESEL number has an online patient account, the IKP (Internetowe Konto Pacjenta), with an app called mojeIKP: it shows your e-prescriptions and e-referrals, and you log in with a Polish bank login, a trusted profile or the mObywatel app. Without a PESEL you cannot use it, but you can still be treated and given prescriptions, as explained below.

You are welcome to bring a partner, a friend, a relative or someone to interpret into the room. You decide whether they stay for the examination. If there is an examination, you undress from the waist down behind a screen; a skirt or a dress makes it easier, but it truly does not matter.

Some of these questions can feel unrelated to the reason you came. They are not: migraines decide which contraception is safe for you, blood clots in your family change what I can prescribe in menopause, weight and sleep matter in PCOS. If you would rather not answer something, say so. That is a perfectly good answer.

An appointment with me starts with the conversation above. Then, if it is needed and if you agree, an examination. It is not always needed: for many first appointments, and for a lot of contraception and menopause questions, talking is enough.

One thing that surprises patients from the UK and Ireland: in Poland an ultrasound scan is a normal part of a gynaecology appointment, done by the gynaecologist in the same room, usually through the vagina (a transvaginal scan) with a small probe. In the UK you would typically be sent to a sonographer on another day; here it takes a few minutes and you get the result straight away. It is not painful, though it can feel undignified the first time, and it is never done without your consent. If you would rather not, say so and we will talk about alternatives.

The internal examination itself is what you know from home: a speculum, sometimes an examination with two fingers, sometimes swabs. I tell you what I am doing before I do it, and you can ask me to stop at any point. You have the right to privacy, to a chaperone of your choice and to say no.

Cervical screening in Poland works like this. The NFZ screening programme covers women aged 25 to 64. Since 1 August 2026 the primary test is an HPV test (HPV HR, for high-risk types of the human papillomavirus), repeated every 5 years; a liquid-based smear is added only if the HPV test is positive, with a recheck after 12 months. You do not need a referral: you can have it at any gynaecology clinic with an NFZ contract, and at some GP practices through the midwife. Privately, a smear test or HPV test can be done at any appointment, whatever your age.

The rules here are different from the UK, where a doctor can treat a young person under 16 without her parents knowing if she is judged mature enough to understand. In Poland, until you are 18, an appointment and any examination or treatment need the consent of a parent or legal guardian. From the age of 16 your own consent is required as well, so nothing can be done to you against your will even if your parent agrees; if the two of you disagree, the law sends the question to a family court, which in practice means we stop and talk. The legal basis is Article 32 of the Act on the Professions of Doctor and Dentist.

In practice: come with your mum, dad or guardian. Usually we all talk together about why you have come, and then, if there is an examination, it is just you and me in the room; if you want your parent there the whole time, that is fine too. Everything you tell me is covered by medical confidentiality, with the same narrow exceptions as anywhere: if your health or safety is in danger. More on how I run a first appointment is on the first appointment page.

Prescriptions in Poland are electronic. If you have a PESEL number, you get a four-digit code by text message or in the mojeIKP app; at the pharmacy you give the code and your PESEL, and that is it. If you do not have a PESEL, I issue the e-prescription against your passport or residence card number and give you a printout with a barcode; you show the printout and your document at the pharmacy. A paper prescription is still possible as a fallback.

Contraception is prescription-only in Poland: the pill, the patch, the ring, the injection and the implant all need a prescription, and the coil (IUD) is fitted at an appointment. A prescription for contraception is usually written for several months at a time. Whether a medicine is subsidised depends on your NFZ insurance and on the medicine being on the reimbursement list, not on who wrote the prescription; without insurance you pay the full price, which for most contraceptives is modest.

Emergency contraception (the morning-after pill) is different from most of Europe: in Poland it needs a prescription. There are two routes. Any doctor can prescribe it, including in an online consultation, and I do. Since 2024 a pharmacist can also issue a prescription on the spot, after a short consultation, in pharmacies that take part in a pilot programme run with the NFZ; you have to be at least 15, and the programme has been extended until 30 June 2028. Not every pharmacy takes part, so if the first one says no, ask which nearby pharmacy does. Time matters: the sooner it is taken, the better it works.

Referrals (skierowania) are also electronic. On the NFZ you need one for most other specialists and for hospital treatment, and I can issue it if it is justified. For gynaecology itself, as above, you never need one.

If you are insured with the NFZ, or you hold an EHIC and the care is necessary during your stay, antenatal care in Poland is free. A regulation of the Ministry of Health, the standard of perinatal care, sets out the schedule of appointments and tests in each trimester, and you choose the doctor or midwife who looks after you. Births take place in hospital maternity units; you can look at hospitals and choose. Privately, you pay per appointment and per test.

I look after pregnancies from confirmation to birth, with the tests due in each trimester, in Sosnowiec and Zabrze and under the NFZ in Ogrodzieniec. Details are on the services page.

If you have heavy bleeding, severe abdominal pain, a high fever, or you are pregnant and something is wrong, do not wait for an appointment. Call 112 (the European emergency number; operators speak English) or 999 (ambulance), or go to the emergency department (SOR) of the nearest hospital with a gynaecology and obstetrics ward. In a life-threatening situation you are treated first; insurance is sorted out afterwards.

For something that cannot wait until morning but is not life-threatening, there is the out-of-hours service, nocna i świąteczna opieka zdrowotna: 18:00 to 8:00 on weekdays and around the clock at weekends and on public holidays, in designated clinics. You can go to any of them, not only the nearest, and you do not need a referral; they give advice in person, by phone and, when justified, at home. For general information about the system or your rights as a patient, the Patient Information Line on 800 190 590 works around the clock; it is an information service, not a medical one.

I do not provide emergency care, and the contact form on this site is not read out of hours.

Abbreviations you will meet on this site: PCOS, polycystic ovary syndrome (in Polish also PMOS, the newer name); MHT, menopausal hormone therapy, which you probably know as HRT; IUD, the coil; HPV, human papillomavirus; GDPR, the EU data protection regulation (RODO in Polish); PUODO, the Polish data protection authority; ZnanyLekarz, the booking site; Klinika Digna, the online menopause clinic I work with.