Longer waiting times, increasing workload and staff shortages: it is the reality for many GP practices. In order to keep healthcare affordable, accessible and of high quality for everyone, general practitioners and healthcare providers in the western Netherlands will work better together and organize healthcare in a smarter way. This has advantages for doctor and patient. GP Albertine van der Does (44) from The Hague is very enthusiastic.
“General practitioners nowadays have to deal with more complex care questions than before. This is partly because people are getting older and therefore need more care, but also because general practitioners have more and more specialist knowledge and have to leave less to specialists.” Despite the large crowds and staff shortages, GPs like Albertine want to do everything they can to help patients quickly and properly.
Smart collaboration
What helps? Smarter organization of care by collaborating with other general practitioners and care providers. “An example of this is task reallocation. Care providers such as the physician assistant and nursing specialists support me in practice. They handle certain routine matters and complaints that are relatively easy to remedy. This allows the GPs to concentrate on more complex problems,” says Albertine.
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The benefits of teleconsultation
In addition, GPs have been using teleconsultation for about three years now: a form of digital care. “It is not always necessary to refer a patient to a specialist in the hospital, but I sometimes want a specialist to think along. Then I send my question to a specialist via a secure system at a quiet moment,” says Albertine.
“The handy thing is that I can immediately send all important information about the patient, such as blood results and a medication list. The specialist can answer my question as soon as it is convenient. Sometimes a referral is still necessary, but often not. In this way we prevent the patient from being referred unnecessarily. If a visit to the hospital is necessary, the specialist already has all the background information.”
No deductible for patients
This way of working means there is more time and it does not cost the patient an excess. Albertine: “We now have more room for complex complaints that we as GPs can treat ourselves. Teleconsultation does not save you more time, but it does ensure that we can help a patient ourselves more quickly without referring them. Moreover, I learn a lot from the specialists. Sometimes a patient also likes to have the opinion of a specialist. We can then solve that with teleconsultation. Then the patient does not have to pay a deductible.”
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Provide vitality
Task reallocation and teleconsultation are good examples of smarter organization of care. For Menzis, this involves the use of appropriate care that works, that focuses on health and improving quality of life and on preventing more serious care. This way more people can experience the power of healthy living. Menzis this is called vitality. Life force is there for every human being; whether you are sick or healthy. Life force means that you are consciously concerned with your health and experience the positive power of healthy living, both physically and mentally, so that you can do the things that are important to you. Menzis does this by offering help in all kinds of ways to promote a good lifestyle. For Menzis, this is the way to become more energetic together and at the same time to make care accessible and affordable. Are you in?
Want to know more about vitality? View on menzis.nl and find out what help is available.