Getting Treatment in Europe Can Take Nearly Two Years

You’ve probably heard someone say it. “Why can’t we have healthcare like Europe?”

It’s a fair question. European countries typically cover everyone, spend less per person than the U.S., and don’t send people into bankruptcy over a hospital bill.

But a new report from the OECD reveals something that rarely makes it into that conversation: in some European countries, getting actual treatment can take years.

Getting a Simple Doctor’s Appointment

Start with the basics. Seeing a general practitioner or nurse.

In Sweden, 23% of patients wait more than a week for that appointment. In France and Germany, it’s one in five.

Expand the window to include people waiting 6 or 7 days, and France hits 28%, the UK 27%, Germany 26%.

For comparison, the average wait to schedule a physician in the U.S. is about a month. Different system, different problems.

Waiting Over a Year to See a Specialist

These numbers get harder to look at.

In the United Kingdom, 11% of patients who need a specialist wait more than a year for that appointment. One year. For a condition that may already be causing daily pain.

France and Germany sit at 2% for that same over-a-year bracket, which sounds better – until you see that 43% of French patients wait between two months and a full year just to see a specialist.

Cataract Surgery: A European Benchmark

Cataract surgery is one of the most common elective procedures in the world. It’s also a standard way to measure how well a health system handles routine surgical demand.

In Norway, 81% of patients waited more than three months from specialist assessment to actually receiving the surgery in 2024.

Finland was at 71%. The UK, Portugal, and Spain all topped 50%. Poland and Hungary had lower shares with 13% and 17% respectively. But those countries also had less catching up to do after the pandemic.

The pandemic hit surgical waitlists hard across Europe, and most countries haven’t fully recovered.

Of nine European countries tracked by the OECD, seven saw their cataract wait times get worse in 2024 compared to 2019.

In the UK, the share of patients waiting more than three months more than doubled, from 22% to 58%. In Norway, it climbed from 65% to 81%.

“Waiting times for non-emergency health care are a significant health policy concern across many health systems”.

Hip Replacements: The Worst-Case Number

The single most striking figure in the entire OECD report is Slovenia. The median wait time for a hip replacement there in 2024 was 667 days. That’s close to two years.

And that’s the median: half of patients waited even longer.

Poland came in at 343 days, or just over a year. Hungary at 209 days. The UK at 174 days.

Think about what 667 days without a hip replacement actually looks like. That’s two years of reduced mobility, chronic pain, and likely depression for an older adult who can’t move freely.

Why This Happens

The OECD points to a straightforward mismatch: demand for healthcare is rising, and the supply of doctors, hospitals, and funding is not keeping pace.

An aging population drives more need. New medical technologies create more options. And health budgets in many European countries face constant political pressure.

“Waiting times differ extensively across countries as a result of different capacity constraints, funding decisions, health personnel and mismatch with growing demand”.

France, for all its reputation as a healthcare model, saw 28% of patients waiting six or more days for a basic GP appointment in 2023. That number surprised even French health observers.