Third of Dutch hospitals unable to provide any scheduled care

The current coronavirus wave continues to put pressure on the healthcare system in the Netherlands. Over a third of the 74 Dutch hospitals can no longer provide any scheduled care, like hip- or knee surgeries. That is more than double compared to the ten hospitals that couldn't offer planned care last week, the Dutch healthcare authority NZa said on Tuesday.

Another 24 hospitals are struggling to provide critical scheduled care, like chemotherapy or heart surgery. Such treatments are sometimes postponed multiple times. 19 of these hospitals aren't managing to provide this care within the required six weeks. Last week, 14 hospitals couldn't give critical scheduled care on time.

The hospitals report that their surgery rooms operate at 36 percent below capacity, compared to 29 percent last week. Hospitals are scaling down their scheduled care to keep space open for coronavirus patients and emergency cases. Acute and semi-acute care - treatment that must happen within 24 hours or risk damaging the patient's health further - are still available throughout the Netherlands, the NZa said.