Dutch healthcare patients wait a year or more for specialist appointments

The latest figures from the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) have shown significant differences in waiting times for specialist treatments at Dutch hospitals. Patients trying to get appointments with doctors in specialties such as gastroenterology, ophthalmology, and dermatology can sometimes wait a year or more. 

Long waiting times for appointments at Dutch hospitals

It is something anyone who has been living in the Netherlands for some time knows: getting an appointment with a specialist doctor can take a long time. And that’s after the struggle of trying to find a GP in the first place - up to 194.000 Dutch residents don’t have a huisarts due to the doctor shortage - and then getting them to give you a referral for a specialist.

Waiting times for specialties such as gastroenterology (GI), ophthalmology and dermatology in particular can be quite long depending on the hospital. For example, a resident could get an appointment at the GI outpatient clinic at Maastricht UMC in just 30 days while at Zuyderland Hospital, they would wait for up to 360 days.

A similar pattern is seen for ophthalmology. Some hospitals have waiting times of around 150 days for this specialty, while others, like those in Zwolle, Kampen and Meppel, have patients waiting more than two years for an outpatient visit. 

Dermatology is also seeing an increase in waiting times. Hospitals in Goeree-Overflakkee, eastern Netherlands and Scheemda have waiting times of 100 days or longer. 

Worker shortage continues to impact Dutch healthcare

The Netherlands has a serious worker shortage, which significantly affects the healthcare sector. In 2023, the sector was short 44.000 employees and it is expected to worsen in the coming years. 

This has an impact on the specialties mentioned above, as well mental healthcare which also has long waiting times. The main problem is that the demand for care is growing faster than the number of medical staff.

"Until 10 years ago, there were 40 training places annually. Then the number was halved," chair of the Dutch Association of Gastroenterologists Manon Spaander told NOS about the shortage of GI specialists. At the same time, there are more GI patients due to unhealthy eating habits.

Ophthalmology and dermatology are experiencing similar situations. There are more elderly people with eye diseases such as cataracts that need to visit eye specialists, and there has been a rise in the number of skin cancer patients, which increases the pressure on dermatologists.

According to the head of dermatology at Radboud UMC, Dirk Jan Hijnen, if more private clinics are reimbursed by health insurers, this could help relieve the pressure by taking over simple treatment cases. This would also help reduce waiting times for patients.