How are nurses graded in Poland and what is their typical salary?

Hey everyone. :)

In the United Kingdom there is a system of grading nurses and a nurses can work up through those gradings with a salary increase sometimes. I was wondering what the typical salary of a nurse is in Poland? (For example - a ward nurse similar to RGN/RN/SRN).

How are nurses graded in Poland? [content.healthcare.monster.co.uk/6076_EN-GB_p4.asp] - This link is an explanation of how nurses are graded in the UK and I wondered if it was similar or different in Poland?

Thanks :)

I'm a little surprised that no one answered this thread as I think it's interesting indeed. Unfortunately I don't know the answer but am interested in what the answer would be. It's a good thread so please can someone know an answer?

I was recently speaking to a qualified nurse here in Poland, who works in a local leather factory. She says the pay is better, at 1300 PLN a month, than the wage of a newly qualified nurse!

I was also told that the Polish nurses are fighting for better pay... let's hope they get it, if this is true.

So was I.


I believe it's bad from what Polish people here tell me. I know one girl who was a nurse in Poland she gets more working in a coffee shop here. I don't really understand the nursing system in Poland so was hoping someone could explain it.

Well, this topic has come up again in my research and as I still haven't found out any significant information about it I would appreciate some help from people who know Poland.

How are nurses graded in Poland?

Well, I've got to include nursing systems in other countries in my next report so it wouldn't hurt to include Poland. Rather than quoting the same old stats from the usual countries it would be interesting to know the wage range of Polish nurses and their grades and salary differences.

I've just done research into the care of the elderly in Poland and it's interesting indeed. More family orientated in Poland compared with USA or the UK.

This might be of some use: izbapiel.org.pl/index.php?id=12

Yes, I think it will be. Thank you mafketis.

My mother is a nurse and she earns about 3500 zł brutto nowadays.

Hi Misty,

Hope you're having success with your inquiries. If you or anyone else here could answer me the following questions, I'd be very grateful.

1. The Nursing High School Diploma - is this the most common method of training nurses in Poland ? Is it common at all ?

2. Is the Nursing High School Diploma a recognised EU standard, that would allow the holder to register as a nurse in another EU country ?

3. Are there other routes to qualification ?

To compare with Ireland, where Nursing is now, I think, a four year degree course.

To anybody who can help with this query - dziekuje !

From talks I've had with people in nursing (warning: this is all second hand information).

1. Many, maybe most, not all Polish nurses begin by going to a nursing high school. Some then go on to BA, MA or other degrees while some begin with the BA degree (in general the BA degree 'licencjat' is an innovation in Polish higher education traditionally the MA was the first post high school degree). There are BA and MA nursing programs at more than one Polish university.

2. I don't think so. The Polish government purposely tried to make it as hard as possible for Polish nursing qualifications to be recognized outside of Poland for fear of hastening emigration by nurses. Basically, most of the people in nursing training programs now don't really intend on working in Poland anymore than they have to, nursing is what you might call an 'emigration degree'. That said, Polish nursing training does not suffer in comparison with training in Western Europe and when they can learn the local language Polish nurses are in demand across Western Europe.

3. I think there are some private schools .....

I would agree that nurses learning their trade are now doing so with the hope of plying their trade outside of Poland but their big stumbling blocks are the English language. The test for this is more difficult now. I've just done a supervision in the UK and it was hard and I am already a Reg in the UK.

I would hope that the level of nursing in the UK and PL would become somewhat more equal as they both have a lot to offer each other.

Actually IINM the UK isn't the first destination of choice for Polish nurses. Anecdotally, I hear of more going to Scandinavia, but that might be sampling size error. At any rate, that's why I wrote "local language" since English is not going to be so critical to a Polish nurse in Norway.

While here, do British nurses wear their uniforms outside the hospital? A Polish friend in nursing has seen that in movies and films and thought it was poor hygene (in Poland nurses change into and out of their uniforms at the hospital).

Have a look at the website ... justiceforpolishnurses.eu
You will find full details of Polish nursing education over the last 40 years. All nurses now (since 2001) have to complete a 3 year BSc education in a medical university. The result of this change has been a reduction of about 90% of students entering the profession so don't plan on supplementing your own nursing workforce in the future with Polish nurses. There won't be any!

Nurse salaries range from about GBP400 to GBP800 per month depending on position. There are no national salary scales as in the UK.
I suspect the UK will face the same recruitment problems when NMC introduce degree only nurse training in the next few years. If all potential students have to achieve university entrance standards how many will choose nursing over more lucrative and easier professions?

This is the minimum requirement to work as a nurse in Sweden.

I know some Polish nurses with shorter education that wanted to go to Sweden to work, but could not.

Yes, despite the fact that officially, they're not supposed to. Not just nurses, but others too - which is an absolute joke. And people wonder why the NHS has huge problems with infections?

It's a reflection on the utterly inept middle management culture in the NHS - and the fact that ward Sisters were replaced with desk jobs.