September is the time when children return to school and kindergarten, and for family doctors - the beginning of the annual marathon of bureaucracy. In addition to an increase in the number of infections and health balances, primary care clinics are flooded with a wave of requests for certificates. Some of these are justified by law, but many have no legitimacy and become an additional burden that lengthens queues and hinders patients' access to care.
Controversial certificates. Doctors protest
Published Aug. 22, 2025 08:34
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September in primary health care is a particularly busy time. The return of children to nurseries, kindergartens and schools means an avalanche of organizational duties for parents, and for family doctors - the beginning of the season for certificates. Hundreds of requests for documents required by educational and childcare facilities or sports organizers reach the offices.
- Certificates, is a topic that returns every year like a boomerang. From our perspective, they are an additional organizational burden, which, during the September season, significantly increases working hours and limits the availability of appointments, says Dr. Agata Slawin, a family physician and expert of the Zielonogórski Agreement. - It is worth remembering that documents allowing a child to return to the facility after an infection are not a benefit financed by the National Health Fund, so the doctor is not obliged to issue them. Moreover, they have no medical justification.
A medical examination performed on a given day does not guarantee that a child will not get sick again the next day. So, in practice, visits for "paper" not only fail to protect against infections, but expose toddlers to additional contact with sick patients. Parents lose time, doctors lose space to admit those who really need it.
Certificates without a basis
Doctors emphasize that many of the documents requested by patients are based solely on the internal rules and regulations of the facilities, and not on the current legislation.
Organizers of sports competitions, courses or public institutions often demand confirmations from family doctors, even though these doctors have no grounds to rule, for example, on fitness for a street run or a test for the uniformed services.
- A family doctor should not issue certificates for matters that are beyond his diagnostic competence. Each document is a medical responsibility that should serve the patient, not safeguard the event organizer, Dr. Slawin adds.
Education instead of frustration
Experts urge parents and institutions to check what certificates actually require a visit to the doctor. Lack of this knowledge leads to unnecessary tensions and longer queues.
It's not a single request for a document, but hundreds of certificates that go to offices in September. That's hours of doctors' time that could be spent on medical consultations.
Patient Navigator - help in the maze of regulations
Information on which documents are mandatory and which are not can be found in the "Patient Navigator" prepared by the Office of the Patient Ombudsman. It's a practical tool that makes it easier to understand the rights and obligations of patients and the scope of work of family doctors.
Doctors are reminded that their main task is diagnosis and treatment, not bureaucracy. Reducing the number of unnecessary certificates is a real opportunity for shorter queues, more efficient organization of work and, most importantly, better accessibility to health care.
Source: Federation Zielonogórskie Porozumienie Zielonogórskie
