How long are mental health waiting times in the Netherlands — and what can you do meanwhile?

What the Treek norm is

The Treek norms are agreements between healthcare providers and insurers about acceptable waiting times. Mental healthcare has two of them: a maximum of four weeks from referral to the first appointment, and a maximum of ten weeks from that appointment to the start of treatment. They are norms, not law — a provider who exceeds them breaks no rule — but your insurer does carry a duty of care.

Waiting times differ sharply by region and by condition. Providers publish their current waiting times on their own sites, and the Dutch Healthcare Authority tracks national figures. When you register, always ask for the waiting time for your specific condition rather than the institution’s average.

Care mediation: the right people use least

Every Dutch health insurer has a care mediation desk (zorgbemiddeling). It looks for a provider with a shorter waiting time on your behalf, including outside your own region. It is free, it needs no referral beyond the one you already have, and it does not touch your deductible. Patient organisations keep finding that only a minority of people on waiting lists know it exists.

What you can do while you wait

Waiting is not the same as doing nothing. For mild to moderate complaints there is a fair amount that demonstrably helps, and for heavier complaints it at least helps not to wait alone.

• Ask your GP about the mental health practice nurse (poh-ggz). They work inside the GP practice, usually have little or no waiting time, and can hold a number of sessions while you wait.
• Ask the provider you are queued with about bridging care: a group, an e-health module, periodic contact. It is not always offered unprompted.
• Keep a few lines a day on how things are going. It makes your intake shorter and more concrete — you arrive with a pattern instead of "it has been bad for a while".
• Use self-help that has structure rather than loose tips: a programme with exercises and an order holds up better than good intentions.
• Find one place to talk about it that is not your future therapist — someone close to you, a peer group, a coach.

When not to wait

Waiting lists are for complaints that can wait. If your symptoms are escalating quickly, if you can no longer manage your work or your care for others, or if you are thinking about suicide, that does not belong in a queue. Call your GP or the out-of-hours GP service and say it is urgent; outside office hours the crisis service can be reached through them.