# Waiting times for transgender care are not falling

> The health minister told MPs on 6 November that efforts to cut waiting times in transgender care have not yet brought them down, and that no national system tracks them.

Society · published 2026-11-08 05:53 · https://nlnow.nl/a/gender-care-waits-still-not-falling-government-admits/

The government says its efforts to shorten waiting times in transgender care have not yet led to a decline. The health minister gave the answer in writing on 6 November to questions from three MPs of the party PRO, Vliegenthart, Westerveld and Moorman, on behalf of the junior minister for Education and Emancipation.

The cabinet calls the problem complex and says solving it will take a long-term effort from many parties. It notes that demand for transgender care has risen sharply over the past ten years.

There is no national system for registering waiting times in gender care. The healthcare authority NZa does not record or publish mental health waiting times for transgender care as a separate category.

Providers sometimes publish indicative waiting times on their own websites. For a first assessment, these range from a few months to several years, depending on the provider, age group and type of care.

The MPs also asked about people who start taking hormones on their own. The cabinet says that if the wait is too long, people risk looking for medication themselves, and hormones are sold online through unofficial channels. It calls it undesirable that people order and use medicines without a prescription and without proper guidance from healthcare providers, and says the quality of medication bought online is not guaranteed. The cabinet says it is working in various ways to curb the illegal trade in (counterfeit) medicines.

## Background

- **NZa (Nederlandse Zorgautoriteit)**: The Dutch Healthcare Authority is the independent regulator of the Dutch healthcare market. It sets rules on how care is paid for and priced, monitors how care providers and insurers operate, and supervises compliance with healthcare regulations. It does not provide care itself, but its rules and market oversight shape how healthcare services are organised and funded.

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