Nearly 200,000 people in the Netherlands are unable to register with a local doctor after moving house or because their current medical practice has closed.

The national audit office (Algemene Rekenkamer) warned that access to basic medical care is becoming more difficult, with 60% of surgeries refusing to take on new patients.

Altogether around 5% of people in the Netherlands are currently looking for a new doctor. The auditor said family doctors, who are the first point of contact for most types of medical care, were not spread evenly around the population.

A shortage of doctors is also looming as the population ages and qualifying medics are increasingly reluctant to start their own practices.

Currently there is a staff shortage of 3% across the profession, but this is projected to rise to 16% by 2024 without government intervention.

One in four people who qualify as family doctors stop within 15 years of receiving their diploma, while the number of students wanting to join the profession is also falling.

Health minister Fleur Agema said there were “more doctors per head of the population than ever”, but acknowledged that the numbers were not evenly distributed.

She said she wanted to increase the number of training places and encourage more qualified doctors to set up their own practice.