Knee Replacement in Poland

Written by Saher Shodhan. Every price on this page was checked against the provider's own page on 31 Oct 2026, unless a row says otherwise. Sources are numbered at the end.

What most people want to know next is harder to find on a clinic's website. Is the hospital on Poland's official register? Who is the surgeon? What happens when you are back home and the knee is stiff or swollen? This guide gives a dated, sourced answer to each, and the questions to put to the clinic in writing.

How Much Does Knee Surgery Cost in Poland?

Of the Polish hospitals in our price index, three publish a price for a total knee replacement that does not leave out the implant. Three more publish a price for the operation with the implant charged on top, so those are not comparable [1] [2] [3].

Poland: hospitals' own price lists in the Thera price index, checked 6 Oct 2026 [1] [2] [3]. UK: Practice Plus Group, checked 31 Oct 2026 [4], Cromwell Hospital and Nuffield Health, checked 30 Oct 2026 [5] [6]. NHS: latest published figure, August 2026 [7] [8].

Comparing options for your own treatment? Ask us, free →

Each Polish hospital's own price

Each hospital's own price list, read for the Thera price index on 6 Oct 2026 [2] [3]. Pounds at the European Central Bank rate of 6 Oct 2026 [1]. Partial (one-compartment) knee prices are left out of the index's knee figures.

A quote in złoty or euros moves with the exchange rate. We converted at the European Central Bank rate of 6 Oct 2026: €1 = £0.8488 and 1 złoty = £0.1945 [1]. Check the pound figure on the day you pay. For most other European countries, our index has too few knee price lists to quote a range. The hip and knee price list shows each hospital's own price, and our guide to the countries UK patients choose for a knee compares them.

What's Included In The Cost, and What Usually Isn't

A quote covers what the hospital writes on it, and nothing more. The six Polish price lists above show how much this differs: two say the implant and the hospital stay are in the price, one gives a price with no detail, and three leave the implant out [2] [3]. None of the six says it includes flights or airport transfers. Ask for each of these to be confirmed in writing, item by item:

• How many nights in hospital, and what happens if you need more.
• How many physiotherapy sessions, and whether any continue after discharge.
• Hotel nights between discharge and your flight, and transfers to and from the airport.
• The implant: the maker and model, and a card or record of it to bring home for your GP.
• Follow-up: who takes out your stitches or clips and reviews the knee once you are back in the UK, and whether that costs extra.
• What the hospital does, and who pays, if there is a complication after you fly home.

The NHS describes what happens after a knee replacement in the UK: "A nurse will take out your stitches or clips after about 10 days," and there is "a follow-up appointment about 6 weeks after the operation" [17]. If you have the operation abroad, agree in writing who does each of these.

Is It Safe To Have Knee Replacement Surgery In Poland?

Nobody can honestly promise that about any hospital, in Poland or in the UK. What you can check is whether the hospital is on Poland's official register, whether your surgeon has the right to practise, and what the plan is if something goes wrong after you fly home.

Poland lists its healthcare providers on RPWDL, a public register run by the government's e-health centre [12]. Search it by the company name on your quote, not the brand name on the website: the two are often different. Of the 30 Polish clinics we had looked up by 6 Oct 2026, we found 29 on RPWDL [14]. The one we could not find may be registered under another company name, which is a question to put to the clinic.

Doctors and dentists are on a separate list, the Central Register of Physicians and Dentists kept by the Polish medical chamber [13]. It shows a doctor's right-to-practise number and specialisations. It is in Polish and protected by a captcha, so ask the clinic for your surgeon's full name and right-to-practise number (numer PWZ) in writing first. Our guide on how to check a clinic in Poland walks through both searches.

Ask for the implant details in writing too. The UK's National Joint Registry covers operations in "England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands" [18], so an operation in Poland is not recorded on it. The registry says one of its jobs is "helping to identify individual patients who have received an implant, should there be any subsequent concerns about the performance or safety of that implant" [18]. Keep the maker, model and batch numbers with your records.

Flying home after a knee replacement

Your surgeon decides when you are fit to fly. On leaving hospital, the NHS says "you'll usually leave the hospital 1 to 4 days after the operation" if there are no signs of complications and you can get around safely on crutches [17].

The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham, an NHS trust, says that after a hip or knee replacement it is recommended to "wait 3 months after surgery before travelling for periods longer than 4 hours" [15]. It also says: "You must not go on a long-haul flight (a flight longer than 4 hours) at least 4 weeks before or after all types of surgery" [15]. The NHS lists these among the things that make a blood clot (DVT) more likely: "are aged over 60", "are having, or have had, surgery" and "go on a long journey (more than 4 hours) by plane, car or train" [16]. Count the whole journey door to door, including the drive to the airport and the wait at the gate. More detail is in our guide to flying after a knee replacement.

You do not need a visa for a short stay. GOV.UK says: "You can travel without a visa to the Schengen area, which includes Poland, for up to 90 days in any 180-day period" (page updated 30 Oct 2026) [19].

When you get home: what the NHS will and won't do

The NHS does not pay for planned private surgery abroad, and it does not take responsibility for it. Its guidance on going abroad for medical treatment says three things that matter for a hip or knee [9]:

• "Your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) does not cover going abroad for planned medical treatments."
• "the NHS is not liable for negligence or failure of treatment", and you need to know how your aftercare will be provided when you return home.
• "Most travel insurance policies will not cover you for planned treatment abroad, so you may need specialist cover."

The NHS treatment abroad checklist asks you to involve a doctor before you go and to "discuss with them how to transfer medical notes to the overseas team" [10]. The S2 route applies to public healthcare providers only, does not cover private treatment, and must be approved before treatment [11]. Our step-by-step trip guides for a knee and a hip cover the first six weeks at home, and who to call.

Related guides: hip replacement in Poland, the countries UK patients choose for a knee, NHS knee replacement waiting times and the trip, step by step.

See also: the Cross Border Directive and HSE refunds.

This guide is general information, not medical advice.

Clinics UK patients look at

The four with the most Google reviews among the orthopaedic clinics we hold. Each has a free page with its records.

Apollo Hospitals, Greams Road, ChennaiChennai, IndiaKIMS-Sunshine Hospitals, BegumpetHyderabad (Begumpet), IndiaYashoda Hospitals, SomajigudaHyderabad (Somajiguda, Raj Bhavan Road), IndiaYashoda Hospitals, MalakpetHyderabad (Malakpet, Nalgonda X Roads), India

Written by Saher Shodhan

Saher Shodhan is the founder of Thera Travel, which publishes what the official records show about clinics abroad, each fact with the date it was checked, and answers patients' enquiries, free. More about Thera → How we write and check our guides →