Thousands of Netherlands residents on lengthy waiting lists for primary doctors

In December, almost 5,300 Netherlands residents were looking for a general practitioner, and the waiting lists show no signs of decreasing, the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) reported on Thursday. The waiting lists were the longest in Enschede, Heerenveen, Leeuwarden, Tilburg, Zwolle, and Apeldoorn. General practitioners who retire often cannot find a successor for their practice.

The situation has gotten so bad in Amstelveen that nearly all family doctor practices have stopped registering new patients. The Noord-Holland municipality told NH Nieuws that some residents still have not found a primary care physician available in their city, where the goal is to actually have access to medical care in every neighborhood.

The city is launching a new plan to tackle the issue by developing their own medical workplaces which they can then rent out at an affordable price. There are available commercial properties, but doctors are often unable to pay commercial prices.

The wages and office costs they receive are fixed amounts set by the national government and are not subject to local price differences. This is a poor decision and is unfair to doctors working in areas with a higher cost of living, said the association representing general practitioners in the Amsterdam region, Huisartsen Coöperatie Amstelland.

The organization told NH Nieuws that the costs for a patient visit is fixed nationally, but the rent is far more expensive in Amstelveen than Drenthe. The group supports Amstelveen’s plan. "It's very sad that there are patients walking around without a GP," they said.

The NZa noted in its report that the accessibility of healthcare is under pressure in many healthcare sectors. According to the authority, this is partly caused by high absenteeism due to illness in healthcare. “Absenteeism also increased in December 2023 compared to the previous month.”

The waiting times in mental healthcare remain far too high, the NZa said, pointing out that diagnosis times exceed the Treek standard in all categories of mental healthcare. There are also still long waiting times for long-term care and specialist care, but these are showing signs of decreasing in some regions.