What is a midwife's licence to practise and who issues it?
In Poland midwifery is an independent medical profession, and to practise it you need a licence to practise, known as PWZ (prawo wykonywania zawodu). It is granted by a regional council of nurses and midwives (okręgowa rada pielęgniarek i położnych). The conditions are a midwifery diploma, full legal capacity, health that allows the work and an irreproachable ethical record. The council enters the midwife in the regional register and issues a document called „Prawo wykonywania zawodu położnej” (licence to practise as a midwife).
Data from the regional registers goes into the Central Register of Nurses and Midwives (Centralny Rejestr Pielęgniarek i Położnych), kept by the Supreme Council of Nurses and Midwives. Part of this data is public information, which is why you can check for yourself whether the person who is going to look after you is a midwife.
Providing midwifery care without the required licence is punishable by a fine. If someone does it for profit or misleads people about having a licence, they face a fine, restriction of liberty or up to a year in prison.
What does a midwife's PWZ number look like?
The licence number has 7 digits followed by a letter. The letter shows the profession: A means a midwife and P a nurse. The sample format given by the NIPiP search tool is 0000001A. If someone introduces herself as a midwife but her number ends in P, it is a nurse's licence number, so it is worth asking whether she also holds a midwife's licence.
| Where the number is | What to watch for |
|---|---|
| PWZ document in the form of a card the size of an ID card | The PWZ number is not the same as the serial number of the card itself. |
| Older document in the form of a booklet | Documents issued to earlier templates remain valid. In the booklet the PWZ number is 7 digits with a letter, while the booklet's series and number is a separate number. |
| mPWZ in the mObywatel app | The electronic version of the document for Polish citizens. It shows the data with the date of the last update, and the midwife can confirm it with a QR code. |
The PWZ number is not secret. It is factual information about qualifications, and many midwives list it on their website or business card. If you do not know it, simply ask before the first visit.
How do I check a midwife's PWZ in the NIPiP register step by step?
- Ask the midwife for her PWZ number and make sure you know the surname she is registered under. After a change of surname a midwife has 14 days to report it to her chamber.
- Go to nipip.pl/weryfikacja-pwz. The search tool is free.
- Choose the additional search options (Dodatkowe opcje wyszukiwania) and enter the surname and the PWZ number: 7 digits and the letter, with no spaces. The tool does not search by first name and surname alone; you also need the PWZ number or a PESEL number.
- Check the result: whether the first name and surname match, whether the professional title is midwife (położna) and whether the licence is current rather than suspended, expired or ended.
NIPiP updates the data in the search tool once a day and the number of search attempts is limited, so enter the details carefully. A regional council has 7 days to pass a new entry to the central register, so a midwife who has only just received her licence may appear in the search tool a few days later.
The law allows only part of the register data to be made public, including the first name and surname, professional title, PWZ number, and information on restrictions, suspension, the reason a licence expired, having stopped practising and on any practice she runs, with its registration number. A midwife's address, PESEL number or workplace are not public.
What does it mean if a PWZ is suspended, expired or restricted?
NIPiP says the search tool lets you check, among other things, whether a licence has expired (wygaszone) or been suspended (zawieszone), whether a midwife has been removed from the register (skreślenie) and whether she has reported that she has stopped practising (zaprzestanie). These terms come from the Polish act on the professions of nurse and midwife:
| Information in the register | What it means | Can she see you? |
|---|---|---|
| Current licence to practise | The midwife is in the register and may practise. | Yes |
| Suspension (zawieszenie) | The licence is on hold for a set time: as a penalty imposed by a court of nurses and midwives (from 1 to 5 years) or by a resolution of the regional council for health reasons. | No, while the suspension lasts |
| Expiry (wygaśnięcie) | The licence is no longer valid, e.g. after it was given up, after a final ruling of a court of nurses and midwives depriving her of it, a court ban on practising, loss of full legal capacity or when the period it was granted for ran out. | No |
| Restriction on practising (ograniczenie) | The midwife may not perform certain tasks, e.g. for health reasons or as a penalty restricting the scope of her work (from 6 months to 2 years). | Only outside the restriction; ask what it covers |
| Stopped practising, including temporarily (zaprzestanie) | The midwife has told her chamber that she is not working in the profession. After a break of more than 5 years within the last 6 years she must complete retraining before returning. | Ask whether she has reported her return to practice |
| Removal from the register (skreślenie) | The midwife is no longer listed in the regional chamber's register. | Clarify it with the midwife or the chamber |
A separate matter is the document „Ograniczone prawo wykonywania zawodu położnej” (restricted licence to practise as a midwife). Foreign nationals receive it for the time of an adaptation period or postgraduate training. In addition, a person with qualifications from outside the European Union may be granted a licence limited to a set scope of tasks, period and place of employment at a specific facility. In both cases the midwife works only within the limits set out in her document.
The public data does not cover every professional penalty, for example a warning, a reprimand or a fine. The register of disciplined nurses and midwives is open only to people who can show a legal interest.
How do I check a midwife's private practice in RPWDL?
A midwife who sees patients on her own account carries out medical activity as a professional practice, for example an individual practice, a practice only at the place of call (home visits) or a group practice. Every such practice must be entered in the Register of Entities Performing Medical Activity (Rejestr Podmiotów Wykonujących Działalność Leczniczą, RPWDL). The entry is made by the regional council of nurses and midwives for the place where the practice operates, and the register is public.
- Go to rpwdl.ezdrowie.gov.pl and open the RPWDL search tool (Wyszukiwarka).
- Choose the „Praktyki zawodowe” (professional practices) tab and enter the midwife's first name and surname. You can narrow the results by town or voivodeship.
- The result shows, among other things, the type of practice, the register book number and the status of the entry. If the practice has been struck off the register, the date of removal is shown.
No practice in RPWDL is not always a problem. A midwife employed at a hospital, clinic or other facility on an employment contract does not need her own entry, because the facility where she works is in the register. A midwife who books private home visits herself and charges for them herself should, however, have an entry.
How do I check a midwife's specialisation and courses?
The central register holds information on postgraduate training, including specialisation, but it is not among the data made public. The professional title and any academic degree or title are public. If a particular specialisation or course matters to you, ask the midwife for the diploma or certificate with the name of the course and its organiser.
Lactation certificates do not come with the licence to practise and have their own registers. You can check the Certified Lactation Counsellor title (CDL) on the list of the Centrum Nauki o Laktacji, and IBCLC certification in the public registry of the IBCLC Commission. We explain the differences between these titles in our article on CDL and IBCLC lactation consultants.
What should I do if the midwife is not in the register or something does not match?
- Check for typos, the letter at the end of the number and the surname, including any previous surname. Ask the midwife whether her details in the register are up to date.
- Call or write to the regional chamber of nurses and midwives (okręgowa izba pielęgniarek i położnych). It keeps the register of midwives in its area, and you will find the list of chambers with contact details on nipip.pl.
- If you suspect a midwife has breached professional ethics or the rules on practising, send the information to the regional professional liability officer (okręgowy rzecznik odpowiedzialności zawodowej) at the chamber. As an injured party you are a party to the proceedings and may appeal against a refusal to open them.
- If someone claims to be a midwife without a licence to practise, report it to the police and to the regional chamber.
- If you believe your patient rights have been violated, contact the Patient Ombudsman (Rzecznik Praw Pacjenta). The free helpline 800 190 590 is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
After receiving information, the professional liability officer must promptly decide whether to open preliminary proceedings. If more details are needed, the officer has at most a month to make that decision.
How does MyMidwife verify midwives' licences to practise?
A midwife who creates an account on MyMidwife gives her licence number and uploads a scan or photo of her PWZ document. Our team checks this document together with the number and the account details. Once approved, the profile is marked „Verified licence (PWZ)”. If the document is not approved, the midwife's account is deleted.
Verification takes place at registration. We do not monitor the NIPiP register on an ongoing basis, and the PWZ number is not shown on the profile. If you want to be sure before a visit, ask the midwife for her number and check it yourself in the NIPiP search tool. It takes a few minutes and is an ordinary question that no midwife should take as distrust.
