The accessibility of emergency care is under pressure, says chairman David Baden of the Dutch Association for Emergency Care Physicians (NVSHA). Earlier today, the Isala hospital in Meppel reported that the emergency room there will have to close at night for at least two months, due to a shortage of doctors. Baden calls it ‘writing on the wall’.
Last summer and autumn, the emergency department of the LangeLand Hospital in Zoetermeer also had to close for a longer period of time due to a shortage of staff. The problems are national and arise because too few emergency room physicians are trained, says Baden. As a result, more physician assistants are needed to provide care. Physician assistants are doctors who do not specialize.
In recent years it has become more difficult to find physician assistants who want to work in the hospital. This could be the result of, for example, the high workload, says Baden, but also because it is less easy for them to become specialists in training. “This causes shortages in various places in hospitals and now also in the emergency room.”
Baden hopes “that the tide will turn”, but according to him, a solution is not yet in sight. The so-called Capacity Body advises the healthcare sector and the government on the number of healthcare workers that the Netherlands needs. The body recently stated that more people should be admitted to medical schools. But that advice was not given for the emergency room training, says Baden. “So if politicians don’t decide otherwise, there won’t be more training places in the ERs,” he says.