# Understaffed 112 control room in east passes calls north

> The emergency control room for eastern Netherlands has several times in recent months been unable to answer 112 calls itself, so callers waited up to sixty seconds before being switched to another region.

Society · published 2026-11-07 15:38 · https://nlnow.nl/a/understaffed-112-control-room-in-east-passes-calls-north/

The ambulance control room (meldkamer) Oost-Nederland could not answer 112 calls itself on several occasions in recent months because of understaffing, including on the night of 30 September to 1 October. Calls went instead to its "buddy" control room in Noord-Nederland.

The Oost-Nederland room is the largest in the country. The emergency services work together there for 79 municipalities, including IJsselland, Noord- and Oost-Gelderland and Twente.

Spokesperson Jonne van Eck of the Witte Kruis confirmed the problem and said no call went unanswered. A call waits sixty seconds before it is forwarded to another control room. "In an emergency, sixty seconds is a very long time, but the call isn't being ignored," she said.

Van Eck said two trends are coming together: a shortage of healthcare staff everywhere and a sharp rise in the number of 112 calls. The control room is training more people, but the course takes months. She said staffing levels are back to normal for now and a longer-term solution is being worked on.

Later this month the national government will launch a campaign explaining when it is and is not necessary to call 112, to cut unnecessary calls.

Patiëntenfederatie Nederland, the patients' federation, said it was shocked. "This is a matter of life and death. Everyone who calls 112 and needs care immediately must be able to get it in time: 112 must always be easy to reach."

## Background

- **meldkamer**: A meldkamer is a control room that receives emergency calls and dispatches the right response. In this context it means an ambulance control room, one of the regional centres that takes 112 calls for ambulance care and sends ambulances out. Calls that cannot be handled in one meldkamer can be passed to another, so-called buddy meldkamer.
- **Witte Kruis**: The Witte Kruis is a Dutch ambulance care organisation that provides ambulance services and runs ambulance control rooms in parts of the Netherlands, including the east. It is a regional provider of emergency medical transport, so its control room staffing directly affects how quickly 112 calls for ambulance care are handled in its area.
- **Patiëntenfederatie Nederland**: The Patients' Federation Netherlands is the national umbrella organisation that represents patients and patient organisations in the Netherlands. It advocates for patients' interests towards government, healthcare providers and insurers, and it gives patients a voice in healthcare policy and quality issues.

From NLnow, news from the Netherlands in English. How stories are made: https://nlnow.nl/about/