1 in 20 people in the Netherlands seeking a GP
About 60% of practices stopped accepting new patients in 2024
Hundreds of thousands of people in the Netherlands are currently not registered with a general practitioner (GP) or want to change their GP. About 60% of GP practices, however, stopped accepting new patients in 2024, so concludes the Netherlands Court of Audit in its report Focus on shortage of general practitioners, published on Tuesday, 2 April 2025. The shortage of GPs is projected to increase further in the years ahead.
“Everyone in the Netherlands should be able to register with a local GP,” wrote the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport earlier this year. The Court of Audit found, however, that they cannot. In some regions of the country, most GP practices have suspended new registrations.
Estimates suggest that between 45,000 and 194,000 people do not have a GP and a further 732,000 do have but want a different GP because they have changed address or are dissatisfied with their current GP. In total, therefore, between 777,000 and 926,000 people in the Netherlands (1 in 20) do not have a GP or want to change GP. A small proportion of these people have asked their health insurers to help them. In December 2024, nearly 7,000 people were on the insurers’ ‘waiting list’.
777,000 to 926,000 people seeking to register with or change GP
More and more locums, fewer and fewer practices
Finding a local GP is more difficult in some regions that in others, partly because of the suspension of registrations. Relatively fewer practices have stopped accepting new patients in Friesland, Drenthe and Zeeland. The Haagland, southern South Holland, Gooi- en Vechtstreek and Amersfoort regions have the highest number of practices that no longer accept new patients. At least three-quarters of the practices in these regions have suspended new registrations. However, this does not necessarily mean that the shortage of GPs is the greatest there.
Percentage of GPs in a region no longer accepting new patients
| region | category no new registrations |
|---|---|
| Achterhoek | 2 |
| Amersfoort en omgeving | 5 |
| Amstelland, Kennemerland en Meerlanden | 4 |
| Amsterdam | 3 |
| Drenthe | 1 |
| Flevoland | 4 |
| Friesland | 1 |
| Gooi- en Vechtstreek | 5 |
| Groningen | 3 |
| Haaglanden en Nieuwe Waterweg Noord | 5 |
| Midden-Brabant | 4 |
| Midden-Gelderland | 3 |
| Noord- en Midden-Limburg | 3 |
| Noord-Holland Noord | 3 |
| Noordoost-Brabant | 3 |
| Regio Zwolle | 2 |
| Rijn Gouwe | 2 |
| Rijnmond | 3 |
| Stedendriehoek en Noord-Veluwe | 4 |
| Twente | 4 |
| Utrecht en omgeving | 1 |
| West-Brabant | 4 |
| Zaanstreek en Waterland | 4 |
| Zeeland | 1 |
| Zuid-Holland Zuid | 5 |
| Zuid-Limburg | 4 |
| Zuidoost-Brabant | 2 |
| Zuid-West Gelderland | 2 |
1 = Lower than 45%
2 = 45 - 55%
3 = 55 - 65%
4 = 65 - 75%
5 = 75% and higher
Percentage of GPs in a region that have suspended new registrations
Furthermore, the number of GPs with their own practice is falling. GPs are increasingly working as temporary or permanent locums or are working for another GP. Yet practice owners are needed: without practice owners there are no practices that can accept patients.
Shortage will probably increase in the years ahead
The shortage of GP care is due to the faster growth in demand than in provision and it is projected to increase in the years ahead, chiefly because of demographic ageing. Furthermore, GPs have been taking on more tasks in recent years, such as diabetes care. They are also having to deal with problems caused by waiting lists elsewhere in the care sector, for instance in mental healthcare. The Court of Audit found that fewer doctors were training to become GPs than the Advisory Committee on Health Workforce Planning and the ministry thought necessary. What’s more, the outflow of GPs is high: 56% of GPs are expected to leave the profession in the next 20 years as they reach pension age or take early retirement. The GP shortage is therefore expected to be the greatest in regions with a rapidly ageing demographic and where more GPs are leaving the profession than young GPs are joining it, such as the Achterhoek and northern North Holland regions.