She is sick to death of it. Literally and figuratively. Due to a chronic illness, Anita van den Kieboom from Breda has been trying to get in touch with the GP assistant for two weeks. In vain. The practice of her old GP was taken over by the national organization Co-Med on 1 July and things have been going wrong ever since.
Co-Med does not employ any general practitioners and only works with observers. There aren’t enough. “I’ve been trying to call for two weeks, but keep getting a conversation tone. My ambulatory counselor has also tried to call for peer consultation with the doctor, but also got no answer. I’m really scared. I need a lot of GP care. They really play with people’s lives,” says Anita.
She is not the only patient who has trouble getting in touch or making an appointment with the general practitioner. Several people are complaining about this on a private Facebook forum. Within a few weeks, twenty complaints were received by the Health Care Inspectorate.
Acquisitions
Last year, Co-Med took over the general practice Donk from the retired doctor Pelgrom in Breda. In July of this year, the practices of doctor Stoopendaal and those of the family physicians Van der Steen and van der Steen-Janssen, all of whom were in Kroeten’s practice, followed.
9,000 patients received a letter from Co-Med this week stating that only emergency care will be provided until September.
“My medicines were not at the pharmacy,” says Anita, who is affected by this. “They called the practice but couldn’t get in touch either. Look, don’t say a bad word about the assistants and doctors who work for Co-Med. They do their best. But the company just shouldn’t have taken over these practices if they didn’t have staff. to have.”
At least 6 tons
She thinks there are financial motives. At registration costs a doctor receives, depending on the age of the patients in the practice, between 17 and 47 euros per quarter. For the 9,000 patients who are registered with the various Co-Med practices, the organization therefore receives at least EUR 6 million, even without a patient being seen.
Anita: “They only care about money. I also had contact with my health insurer. The care team would provide a solution. Suddenly I got a call, they had been told by Co-Med that it had already been solved, but I had haven’t seen a doctor yet.”
Co-Med director also tells Omroep Brabant – despite the letter that all patients have received – that there are no problems. Anita: “I read that and became so angry about it. I panic about this. For example, I have now received a B12 injection from the district nurse that I need, but he only does that once. I can also see another doctor I’m on the waiting list somewhere, but there are still 500 waiting for me. And you can’t even get on the waiting list with other doctors.”
Concerned Doctors
Some GPs who work for Co-Med have told their patients that they are concerned about the chaos and want to leave the company. Breda GP Rien Frankenhuis (65) is also concerned. He’s retiring in a few months and definitely didn’t want his practice to be taken over by Co-Med.
“It is difficult to find a successor, but if you search well and start on time, it is possible. I want my patients to be in good hands. As a general practitioner you have to know your patients. I see through companies like Co-Med my going to hell.”
At Co-Med they do not work with regular GPs but with observers. The core of the GP profession is that you do have a regular GP, says Frankenhuis. “When I see a patient, I know his entire history and the history of his family. Co-Med doesn’t know that. The company is not a good healthcare provider. It doesn’t even offer palliative care, they hire another company for that. “
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