Polish nurses warn of loopholes in new medical staff reporting rules

The Polish Ministry of Health is introducing a new regulation requiring hospitals to report the actual presence of medical personnel to the National Health Fund (NFZ) on a monthly basis. The goal of this 'schedule regulation' is to allow the NFZ to more effectively verify whether healthcare facilities are meeting staffing requirements and fulfilling the terms of their public funding contracts.

However, the All-Poland Trade Union of Nurses and Midwives (OZZPiP) has raised concerns regarding the scope of these requirements. The union argues that the project will not effectively close loopholes in the system because the reporting obligation applies exclusively to hospital treatment.

The union points out that the Ministry does not plan to mandate time-reporting for medical staff working in other sectors, such as primary healthcare, outpatient clinics (AOS), psychiatry, rehabilitation, or emergency medical services. Consequently, they warn that medical professionals could still be recorded as being in two places at once, such as simultaneously appearing on a hospital roster and an outpatient clinic schedule.