If you want to visit the office hours of your GP practice on Friday, you probably can’t go. At many GP posts in Brabant, consultation hours are canceled and the practices are limited. Agreements made often do not go through. The cause is the general practitioner protest in The Hague.
The general practitioners are protesting on Friday afternoon at the Malieveld in The Hague against the extra tasks they are given. For example, more administrative tasks were added from the government and health insurers.
The demand for care is also increasing, according to the National Association of General Practitioners. There are long waiting lists at hospitals and in mental health care. As a result, the patient often ends up at the GP. The doctors say that due to the increasing demand they have less time per patient.
Limited accessibility
About 60 general practitioners from 38 practices travel to The Hague from the Oosterhout region. “In every practice, a general practitioner remains behind,” says director Daan Kerklaan of the Zorroo Region Oosterhout and Surroundings care group. “He runs an emergency service and is therefore limited available for everything that can’t wait. The regular office hours are cancelled.”
Consultation hours will continue in some practices, but actions will be taken in a different way. “From noon, callers will hear a tape explaining why the practice has limited access,” says a doctor’s assistant from general practice Dudok in Breda.
Together to The Hague
Ellen Otte of PrimaCura Huisartsenzorg Midden-Brabant reports that the vast majority of practices that fall under the region will participate in the protest on Friday. According to her, eighty general practitioners will drive together to The Hague on Friday. “The practice can only be reached in an emergency”, says Otte.
The same sound is heard at the Eindhoven Health Centers Foundation. “The emergency line is available all day long for matters that cannot wait until Monday,” says Monique Hartings of the foundation. “It is not the intention that people call the emergency room for minor complaints.”