Waiting-list guide
Being on a waiting list often feels powerless. Yet you can do more than you might think. This guide takes you through 8 steps. You don't have to read it all: pick what fits right now.
Are you in crisis?
Really not doing well right now? Then don't wait for your turn. You can get help straight away.
Your rights
A long wait is not your fault. And you don't simply have to accept it: there are agreements about how long you may wait, and your health insurer has to help you.
The Treeknorm: how long you may wait
For mental health care (ggz), it has been agreed how long you wait at most:
- 4 weeks from signing up to your intake (the first conversation);
- 10 weeks from your intake to the start of your treatment.
Together that's 14 weeks at most. In practice, many people wait longer.
Your health insurer has to help you
Your health insurer has a duty of care (zorgplicht): it must make sure you get the care you need in time. Waiting longer than the Treeknorm? Call your insurer and ask for waiting-list mediation (wachtlijstbemiddeling, sometimes called zorgbemiddeling). They help you look for a place where you can start sooner. It costs you nothing.
The phone number is on your insurance card and on your insurer's website.
Your insurer won't help?
Then first file a complaint with your insurer. If you can't sort it out together, you can go to the Health Insurance Complaints and Disputes Foundation (SKGZ). You can also report the problem to the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa).
Go (back) to your GP
Even while you're on a waiting list, your GP (huisarts) is still there for you. Tell them how you're doing now. Getting worse? Say so. Sometimes your GP can arrange something else or change your referral.
The mental health nurse (POH-GGZ)
Many GPs work with a mental health nurse (praktijkondersteuner ggz). You can often see them sooner for a few conversations, also while you're on a waiting list.
No deductible
Care from your GP and the POH-GGZ doesn't count towards your deductible (eigen risico).
Help in the meantime
You don't have to wait until your treatment starts to find support.
Less specialised help
- Conversations with the POH-GGZ at your GP's practice.
- Basic mental health care (generalistische basis-ggz): shorter treatments for less complex problems. Ask your GP whether that suits you.
- Online modules (eHealth) through your GP or your practice.
Free support, no referral needed
- De Luisterlijn: an anonymous conversation, day and night (in Dutch). Call 088 0767 000.
- MIND Hulplijn (formerly MIND Korrelatie): anonymous advice by phone, chat or WhatsApp (in Dutch). Call 0900-1450 (normal call charges), Monday to Friday.
- 113 has a free online self-help course (in Dutch).
- Walk-in and recovery places with peer workers. See our map or the MIND Atlas.
Please note
Ask the practice where you're on the waiting list: does anything change about your place if you get help elsewhere in the meantime? There is no general rule for this, so always ask.
Contact several practices
You may ask more than one practice how long their waiting time is. That way you may find a place where you can start sooner. Be honest if you've also signed up elsewhere; some practices ask about it.
With the contact kit you have a polite email or a call script in a few minutes, with the questions you can ask.
To your email and call scriptFinding waiting times
Where to find waiting times
- Care providers have to put their waiting times on their own website.
- Our page waiting times and intake stops shows what places on our map write about this themselves. We check every week.
- Your health insurer's care finder (zorgzoeker) shows waiting times.
- ZorgkaartNederland has information about practices and experiences of clients (in Dutch).
Waiting times change quickly and aren't always reliable. An old number can give you false hope, or make you lose heart for no reason. So always ask the practice itself.
What is covered?
You usually need a referral letter
For mental health care from your basic insurance you usually need a referral letter (verwijsbrief), for example from your GP.
Contract or no contract
With an in-kind policy (naturapolis), care is covered at a practice that has a contract with your insurer. If you go to a practice without a contract, you often only get part of the cost back. With a reimbursement policy (restitutiepolis) you have more free choice.
Deductible (eigen risico)
Mental health treatment counts towards your deductible. In 2026 that's €385. Since 2026, an exploratory conversation in mental health care doesn't count towards your deductible.
Not sure? Ask your health insurer before you start.
Getting through the wait
Waiting is hard. You don't have to do it perfectly. Small things can make a day a little lighter: a regular rhythm, a moment outside, calling someone you trust.
Sources
We checked this text on 30 October 2026 against these sources, among others (most of them are in Dutch).