From next year, the four Drenthe GP emergency posts in Assen, Emmen, Hoogeveen and Meppel will start a trial, in which fewer GPs will be scheduled for the emergency department. The organization behind the GP clinics, Doctor Drenthe, hopes to reduce the pressure on GPs.
General practitioners must work at least fifty hours a year in emergency departments in addition to their regular work. In practice, the shortage of general practitioners means that they exceed those fifty hours.
That is why a trial will start in January, in which one of the two night shifts for general practitioners at the emergency room will disappear. Instead of having two GPs at the post, there is only one. Another GP is on standby, but does not have to be at the post itself.