Territorial differentiation in the physiotherapy profession in Poland

Aims
The establishment of the professional self-government in 2015 based on the Act on the Profession of Physiotherapist structured the profession in Poland, providing it a legal framework. The mandatory professional register was also introduced. This is an important database of demographic data on the physiotherapy market in the country, based on which the first summary statistics were created. The aim of this study was to estimate and delineate the territorial differentiation of physiotherapists’ professional activity in the country.

Material and methods
The data originate from the official statistics of the National Chamber of Physiotherapists, associating all persons with the right to practice the profession.

Results
Data analysis shows that counties in south-eastern Poland are characterised by a very high number of physiotherapists, while an insufficient number of physiotherapists is observed, for example, in the central-eastern part of the Pomeranian Voivodeship.

Conclusions
While the excess number of physiotherapists provides a specific comfort for people living in these regions, the insufficient supply of services in other areas poses a serious threat to the public health of residents. Hence, stakeholders should make efforts to improve this state of affairs as soon as possible. Nevertheless, changes in the number of physiotherapists in Poland should certainly be systematically monitored so that the areas requiring intervention can be identified.