Dutch Hospital Waiting Times Top One Year as Doctor Shortages Reach Crisis Point
Netherlands, 3 June 2026
In some Dutch hospitals, patients now wait over 360 days to see a specialist — with the gap between neighbouring hospitals stark and growing.
A Postcode Lottery in Plain Sight
The scale of the disparity came into sharp focus on Tuesday, 2 June 2026, when NOS reported on the latest figures from the Dutch Healthcare Authority (Nederlandse Zorgautoriteit). The data revealed that waiting times for hospital treatment vary dramatically — not just across the country, but between hospitals that are virtually neighbours [1]. Three specialties stand out as the most severely affected: gastrointestinal and liver (GI) care, ophthalmology, and dermatology [1]. In each of these fields, some hospitals can see patients within weeks, while others leave them waiting for well over a year — a gap that specialists and healthcare professionals say is no longer merely inconvenient, but is now a systemic crisis.
The Numbers: Where the Waits Are Worst
The starkest single comparison in the data involves GI care in the south of the Netherlands. At Maastricht UMC, a patient referred to the gastroenterology clinic can expect an appointment within 30 days. At Zuyderland Hospital — located nearby in the same region — the waiting time stretches to 360 days [1]. That is a difference of 330 days between two hospitals serving broadly the same population. Similar divergences have been identified between hospitals in Hilversum and Amersfoort, as well as at hospitals in The Hague and Zuid-Limburg [1]. For ophthalmology, the situation is even more extreme in parts of the country: at the Isala hospital group, which operates sites in Zwolle, Kampen, and Meppel, the waiting time for treatment exceeds two years [1]. At hospitals in Scheemda, Coevorden, Hardenberg, and Arnhem, patients face waits of over 150 days [1]. In dermatology, the longest waiting times — exceeding 100 days — are recorded at hospitals in Goeree-Overflakkee, Oost-Nederland, and Scheemda [1].
The Root Cause: A Generation of Specialists Not Trained
Manon Spaander, chair of the Dutch Association of Gastroenterologists, told NOS on 2 June 2026 that the long waiting times in her specialty are the predictable outcome of decisions made a decade ago [1]. According to Spaander, the annual number of gastroenterology training places stood at 40 until approximately ten years ago, at which point the figure was halved [1]. That reduction — a cut of 20 training places per year — has fed directly into today’s shortage of practising gastroenterologists. Compounding this structural deficit is a concurrent rise in patient demand. Spaander pointed to the role of Western dietary habits — high meat consumption, low fibre and vegetable intake, and reduced physical activity — in driving up the number of patients presenting with abdominal complaints [1]. At the same time, advances in treatment options mean that gastroenterologists are now able to treat a wider range of conditions, which, while a medical positive, places additional pressure on an already stretched workforce [1]. Hans Vingerling, chairman of the Dutch Ophthalmological Society, described an analogous dynamic in eye care, telling NOS that the ageing of the Dutch population has significantly increased demand for ophthalmological services, given that conditions such as cataracts are predominantly age-related [1]. ‘If more ophthalmologists do not come, things will grind to a halt,’ Vingerling warned [1]. In dermatology, staff shortages are similarly acute, and patient numbers are rising in part due to increasing rates of skin cancer — the most common form of cancer in the Netherlands — driven by greater access to sunny travel destinations and the domestic use of tanning beds [1].
What This Means for People in COA Reception Centres
For asylum seekers and other residents living in COA (Centraal Orgaan opvang asielzoekers) reception centres across the Netherlands, the national waiting time crisis has a direct and practical impact [GPT]. Healthcare for this group is provided through the GZA (Gezondheidszorg Asielzoekers) system, which places a huisarts — a general practitioner — at or near each reception location [GPT]. When a GP determines that a resident requires specialist hospital care, a referral is issued; however, given the waiting times now documented by the Dutch Healthcare Authority, that referral may not translate into a specialist appointment for many months, depending on the region and the specialty required [1][GPT]. The shortage of healthcare professionals is not confined to hospitals. As recently as 2 June 2026, the Novadok ONS general practice in the Hoge Vucht district of Breda — a practice serving a diverse patient population — was actively advertising vacancies for doctors’ assistants, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and primary care support workers, reflecting the breadth of the staffing gap across the entire primary care system [2]. Separately, staffing agencies such as CuraJob, based in Goes in Zeeland, are working to match healthcare professionals to care institutions ranging from home care to mental health services (GGZ), underscoring the scale of workforce demand across the sector [3]. Residents of COA centres with urgent medical needs are advised not to wait: the appropriate first step is always to contact the GZA doctor or centre staff immediately, as urgent cases are handled differently from routine referrals [GPT]. The waiting time crisis, while affecting the entire Dutch population [1], makes early and direct communication with on-site medical staff especially important for those whose access to the broader healthcare system is already mediated through a single point of contact.