VU university teaching hospital to close, merge into AMC

Amsterdam’s VU university medical centre is to stop operating as a hospital in 2040 and will transfer all its care activities to the AMC teaching hospital in Amsterdam’s Zuidoost district by that date.

The two university hospitals formally merged in 2018 under the moniker Amsterdam UMC.

The organisation’s board said in a statement this week that it was too expensive to keep the VU hospital operational and the move would free up money for other investments.

“Healthcare is becoming increasingly complex. We are seeing more patients with multiple problems which is making cooperation between different areas of expertise more important than ever,” the board said. “Digitalisation and technology offer opportunities, but also demand major investment.”

The VU hospital’s accident and emergency department closed in 2024, as did the family medicine practice.

The move, if it gets final approval later this summer, will take the number of teaching hospitals in the Netherlands to seven.