Hospitals in Rotterdam: Emergency Care Guide for Expats (2026)

Knowing which of the hospitals in Rotterdam to head for, and which number to dial first, is worth settling before you need it. Dutch emergency care is good, but not the way most newcomers expect: you rarely walk into a hospital on your own, and the gatekeeper is a phone call. This guide covers 112, the huisartsenpost, the A&E departments, insurance, and medicine at 3am.

In a real emergency, dial 112

If someone is unconscious, has chest pain, is bleeding heavily or is otherwise in a life-threatening state, do not drive around looking for one of the hospitals in Rotterdam yourself. Call 112. It is the single emergency number across the Netherlands and the EU, free from any phone, covering ambulance, police and fire. Operators handle English.

Have your location ready: street, house number, postcode, city. The call taker asks what happened and whether the person is conscious and breathing. The ambulance crew, not you, decides where you go, and that is the nearest unit able to treat the problem. For non-urgent police matters use 0900-8844, which costs 2 cents per minute on top of your normal charges and is staffed around the clock. Never use it for a medical problem.

The huisartsenpost is the door to the hospital

This is what catches newcomers out. Your huisarts (GP) is the entry point to everything, and you register with a practice near home rather than picking a specialist yourself. From 08:00 to 17:00 you call your own practice; outside those hours the huisartsenpost, the out-of-hours GP post, covers 17:00 to 08:00 and all weekend.

Always telephone before going there. A triage nurse decides on the phone whether you get advice, an appointment at the post, or a referral on to one of the hospitals in Rotterdam. Huisartsenposten Rijnmond runs four posts, and they sit inside hospitals. Their English page is huisartsenpostenrijnmond.nl/english.

The main hospitals in Rotterdam and their A&E departments

Erasmus MC is the university medical centre and the largest of the hospitals in Rotterdam; its emergency department takes the most complex trauma. Maasstad serves the south, Franciscus Gasthuis the north, Ikazia is a smaller general hospital on the south bank, and Franciscus also runs a Schiedam site that closes overnight.

Bring photo ID, insurance details and a list of your medication. Patients at the hospitals in Rotterdam are seen in order of urgency, not arrival, so a broken finger waits behind a heart attack.

How health insurance pays for hospitals in Rotterdam

Almost everyone living or working in the Netherlands must take out Dutch basic insurance, the basisverzekering, within four months. Cover is not backdated, so treatment while uninsured stays your own bill, and the CAK writes to people registered with a municipality but not an insurer, warning that a fine can follow.

1. Take out the basisverzekering within four months of arriving; the average 2026 basic premium is about 157 euro a month.
2. Register with a huisarts near your address while you are healthy, not at 2am.
3. Budget for the eigen risico, the compulsory excess, 385 euro for 2026 on most hospital care and prescriptions.
4. GP care, including the huisartsenpost, is exempt and does not count towards it.
5. Ask your huisarts for a verwijsbrief (referral letter) before seeing a specialist, or the insurer may refuse the bill.
6. Check whether you qualify for zorgtoeslag, the healthcare allowance for lower incomes.

Between landing and your policy starting there is a gap, and that gap is when people fall off bicycles and end up in one of the hospitals in Rotterdam. A policy from ektatraveling.com bridges it; compare the excess, hospital network and repatriation terms.

Night pharmacies and emergency dentists

Ordinary pharmacies close in the evening, so after-hours prescriptions go through a dienstapotheek, a duty pharmacy. There is one north and one south, both attached to hospitals in Rotterdam you have already met. Dental emergencies have their own post on the Erasmus MC campus; telephone first.

Be reachable, and be able to pay

None of these numbers help if your phone has no signal in week one. A travel eSIM activated before you fly, from airalo.com or saily.com, lets you dial 112 and reach the hospitals in Rotterdam the moment you land. Data-only eSIMs may carry no Dutch number, so add a local SIM later.

Dutch insurers reimburse into an IBAN, and a local bank account takes weeks to open. A euro account from wise.com or Amsterdam-based bunq.com gives a refund somewhere to land and a way to pay a hospital invoice meanwhile.

Frequently Asked Questions

What number do I call for an ambulance in Rotterdam?

Dial 112 from any phone, free, anywhere in the Netherlands. It reaches ambulance, police and fire, operators handle English, and the crew decides which hospital fits. For urgent but not life-threatening problems, call your huisarts in office hours or the huisartsenpost between 17:00 and 08:00.

Can I walk into A&E at one of the hospitals in Rotterdam?

Usually not, and this is the biggest difference from many other countries. Unless an ambulance brings you, phone your huisarts or the huisartsenpost first and be referred. Ikazia asks you to call its emergency department for advice before coming, and every department triages on urgency.

Do I need insurance to use hospitals in Rotterdam?

You are treated first in a genuine emergency, but the bill still follows you. Anyone living or working here must take Dutch basic insurance within four months, and it does not cover treatment from before the policy started. Until it is active, hold travel or expat medical cover.

Where do I get medicine in Rotterdam at night?

Use a dienstapotheek: Rotterdam Noord at Kleiweg 500, Rotterdam Zuid at Maasstadweg 59b, both open through weekday nights and around the clock at weekends and on public holidays. Bring ID and your insurance details.

Do doctors and nurses here speak English?

English is very widely spoken in Dutch healthcare, and at the hospitals in Rotterdam you will rarely struggle to be understood. Learning the Dutch words for your symptoms and medication still helps, and it is worth asking a practice whether it works in English before you register.

Expat Essentials for Rotterdam

A few quick wins make settling into Rotterdam easier while you work through this guide. An Airalo eSIM keeps you online from the moment you land, a pre-booked Welcome Pickups transfer takes the stress out of arrival day, and NordVPN protects your logins on public wifi. See our full list of trusted services below.

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Written by FinePassport team