Hospitals are not succeeding in shortening their waiting lists, reports the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa). This is partly due to the high absenteeism due to illness.
In ordinary years, about 2 million operations were performed, but corona has thrown a spanner in the works over the past two years. The NZa now estimates the number of extra people waiting due to corona at 100,000 to 120,000.
The NZa believes that the waiting lists should be tackled by collaborating with other hospitals or independent clinics. “Health insurers must make (financial) agreements with healthcare providers that encourage this,” the organization continues.
Care at level 2019
Hospitals already provided about as much care in March as in a comparable period in 2019, before corona really erupted. The number of operations in March was also at the level of 2019.
The number of hospitals that can again provide all planable care, such as knee operations, went from 31 percent in March to 36 percent in April. Three hospitals cannot yet deliver the critical plannable care, which must be delivered within six weeks, within that time. “At the moment this does not lead to bottlenecks, because other care providers can take over this care,” says the NZa, however.