On the waiting list for a donor heart
If your heart no longer works properly, a heart transplant may be necessary. You can then be placed on the waiting list.
Your heart pumps blood containing oxygen and nutrients through your body. In severe heart failure, your heart barely works anymore. A heart transplant may then be the only solution. You are eligible for this if other treatments no longer help.
When do you get on the waiting list?
You are only placed on the waiting list once you have completed all medical examinations and are physically and mentally fit enough for surgery. The risks of the surgery must not be too great. The transplant center enters your details into the international waiting list of Eurotransplant.
How many people are on the waiting list?
As of July 31, 2025, there were 121 people on the active waiting list for a donor heart.
Below you will find the current waiting list figures. Check the table at the top right (latest monthly figures) in the 'Transplantable' column.
How long do I have to wait?
If you are on a waiting list for a donor heart, you naturally want to know how soon it will be your turn. Your place on the list is determined by, among other things:
- How long you have already been on the list.
- Your age.
- Your blood type.
- Your medical situation.
In a heart transplant, speed is very important: a donor heart must reach the right patient within a few hours of removal. Therefore, the distance to the donor hospital also plays an important role.
Sometimes your situation is so severe that you quickly need a donor heart. You can then sometimes be given priority on the waiting list.
Who gets priority?
Sometimes your situation is so severe that you quickly need a donor heart. You can then be granted a special urgent status, giving you priority on the waiting list.
High international urgency
You can receive this status if you are in the intensive care unit of a transplant center. You often receive temporary heart support, such as a balloon pump. However, this is not a permanent solution. An international group of specialists decides whether you receive this status and thus get priority.
Children under the age of 16 automatically receive this status. Children who are hospitalized for a long time also receive priority.
National high urgency
You receive this status in these cases:
- Your situation is unstable and you need a lot of medication to support your heart.
- You have very severe cardiac arrhythmias.
- Your situation is stable. But you need medication to support your heart AND to keep your kidney function good.
What is the active and inactive waiting list?
Active on the waiting list (transplantable)
You are actively on the waiting list and are currently eligible for transplantation.
Not active on the waiting list (not transplantable)
You are temporarily inactive on the list. This can be caused by an infection, for example. In that case, you cannot be operated on (for a while).
- The doctor will then temporarily remove you from the waiting list.
- Your doctor will put you back as active on the waiting list once you have recovered.
- Your previous waiting time will simply count towards it again.
Are you on the list with a high-urgency status?
- Then you build up a special 'high-urgency waiting time'.
- However: if you are not on the list with this status for longer than 28 days, that special waiting time lapses.
Allocation of a donor heart
When a donor heart becomes available, a special computer program calculates which patient on the waiting list is most eligible, based on:
- Status and medical urgency.
- Waiting time.
- Age of you and the donor.
- Blood type match.
- Heart size.
The patient at the top of this list is first in line to receive a donor heart.
Explanatory video about waiting list
After the transplantation
A heart transplant is a major surgery. You need time to recover physically and mentally.
More information
Do you have questions about your own situation? Ask your doctor, as they know your medical situation.
Which hospitals perform heart transplants?
- Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam
- University Medical Center Utrecht
- University Medical Center Groningen