An innocent complaint on his finger reminded 25-year-old David Versteegen, who had moved to Schagen in January, that he still had to find a doctor. That turned out to be more difficult than expected. After much calling, he found a GP in Sint Maartensbrug. But this could be easier, he thought. That is why he is coming up with a website where you can see at a glance which GP is still accepting patients, and which one is full.
When David Versteegen from Zoeterwoude-Dorp still lived in Enschede, where he studied biomedical technology at the University of Twente, he was registered with the campus GP. But once in Noord-Holland (Versteegen was able to get a job at a company in Middenmeer that makes cameras that are used during operations, ed.) he discovered that it was not so easy to find a GP. He was refused everywhere.
“First I called the first doctor I could find,” says Versteegen. “He indicated that he was not taking any patients. I also heard that nobody in Schagen was taking people anymore.” He couldn’t believe it and called every GP out there. Everywhere the answer was the same: no. He called in his health insurer and was referred to waiting list mediation.
“They advised me that if I needed to see a doctor, it was best to come by as a passer-by. Think of it as a tourist getting something here”
“They advised me that if I really needed to see a doctor, it was best for me to come by as a passer-by. Think of it as a tourist who gets something here. Then he must also be helped. Only that didn’t work, because I had to go to hospital, then a follow-up with the GP would be necessary later and I still had to register.”
General practice center
Out of sheer desperation, Versteegen called a GP in Middenmeer, where he works. “They thought it was a strange story. I couldn’t cancel everyone in the area, they thought, and they advised me to call the GP organization HKN.” He did and there they gave him temporary advice to call the GP post. In the meantime, they would look for a doctor for him. “Tomorrow they would call me back,” says Versteegen.
That happened and a doctor was found for him. In Sint Maartensbrug. “Apparently there is an agreement that if there is a GP in a village next door who still has room, he will take over such a patient.” He was able to make an appointment and has already been.
But this couldn’t go on any longer, Versteegen thought. “I tasted a lot of frustration from all parties. It is of course not fun for general practitioners to reject people, but I thought something had to be done about it.” That same day he bought the domain name GPloos.nl†
Trash Vaccine
With this site, he wants to provide insight into which general practitioners are still accepting and which are not. He compares it with the website trashvaccine.nl, where people could see what coronavirus vaccines were about. It should be visible at a glance via a red (full), green (open to patients) or yellow (maybe) dot. Versteegen: “I want to use this to set up a platform to map out the problem and at the same time to bundle all initiatives to solve it. So that everyone is on the same page.”
“I hope for a uniform regional approach between the GPs that do exist. Then you also know how many patients there are. And that if there really are no more GPs taking on patients in the future, you can create a kind of virtual queue where everyone can be treated fairly. way a GP finds. And that this no longer depends on the region in which the person lives.”
“I hope I can show that it works and that it leads to a structural approach at national level”
Versteegen continues: “I do not accept that people cannot find a GP. Everyone should easily and quickly see where there is a place. Then I hope that I can use this information to show at a regional level that it works and that it leads to a structural approach, such as a national crisis team for the longer term.”
It is not yet known when the website will be online. David Versteegen spends all his free time on it and a start has already been made. He wants to use his own network to find someone who can help set up the website as quickly as possible. “Hopefully the site will be online within one to two months.”
NH Nieuws previously made a short documentary about the shortage of general practitioners. Watch this documentary below:
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