On the waiting list for a donor heart
If your heart is no longer functioning properly, a heart transplant may be necessary. You may then be placed on the waiting list.
Your heart pumps blood containing oxygen and nutrients through your body. In cases of severe heart failure, your heart is barely functioning anymore. A heart transplant may then be the only solution. You are eligible for this if other treatments are no longer effective.
When are you placed 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 adds your details to the international Eurotransplant waiting list.
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. Look at the table in 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 position on the list is determined by factors including:
- How long you have already been on the list.
- Your age.
- Your blood type.
- Your medical situation.
With a heart transplant, speed is very important: a donor heart must reach the right patient within a few hours of being removed. Therefore, the distance to the donor hospital also plays an important role.
Sometimes your situation is so serious that you need a donor heart quickly. You can sometimes receive priority on the waiting list.
Who gets priority?
Sometimes your situation is so serious that you need a donor heart quickly. You can then receive a special urgency status, which gives you priority on the waiting list.
Internationally high urgency
You can receive this status if you are in the intensive care unit of a transplant center. You are often given 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 therefore priority.
Children under 16 years of age automatically receive this status. Children who are hospitalized for a long period also receive priority.
Nationally high urgency
You receive this status in these cases:
- Your situation is not stable and you need a lot of medication to support your heart.
- You have very serious heart rhythm disorders.
- Your situation is stable. But you need medication to support your heart and also 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 a transplant.
Not active on the waiting list (not transplantable)
You are temporarily inactive on the list. This can be due to an infection, for example. In that case, you cannot be operated on (for the time being).
- The doctor will then temporarily remove you from the waiting list.
- Your doctor will put you back on the active waiting list once you have recovered.
- Your previous waiting time will simply continue to count.
Are you on the list with a high-urgency status?
- Then you build up a special 'high-urgency waiting time'.
- But: if you are not on the list with this status for longer than 28 days, that special waiting time expires.
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 compatibility.
- Heart size.
The patient at the top of this list is the first to receive a donor heart.
Explanatory video about the waiting list
After the transplant
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; they know your medical situation.
Which hospitals perform heart transplants?
- Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam
- University Medical Center Utrecht
- University Medical Center Groningen