The GP post is closing because the emergency department (ER) of the VUmc will close for regular emergency care from the end of May. In Amsterdam, the general practitioner’s offices are located under one roof with the emergency departments. If patients come to the GP with a complex complaint, they can easily go to the ER, where they can receive further help.
But because Amsterdam UMC concentrates emergency care at the AMC location, and the VUmc ER closes for regular emergency care at the end of May, the Amsterdam GP Posts decided to close this post.
There are several reasons for the latter, says director Corine van Geffen. The most important is the safety aspect. If patients whom the general practitioner wants to refer cannot be helped immediately in the hospital, for example in the case of acute heart failure, this entails risks.
Staff shortage
The second point is that GP emergency departments must be increasingly integrated with A&E departments. It should become one emergency post with one counter where patients are assessed. A lack of staff forces emergency departments to work increasingly efficiently.
The first merger was opened a year ago in the BovenIJ Hospital. The goal: less administration and less shuffling with patients. Van Geffen also wants the other three general practitioner posts in the city – at the AMC and OLVG East and West locations – to collaborate even more intensively with the ERs. “In the Netherlands we have something unique in offering good and efficient general practitioner emergency care in the evening, night and weekend. It is important that we maintain this for all Amsterdam residents and this sometimes requires changes, such as closing the South post.”
The closing process is not completely silent. A number of general practitioners from the South have previously expressed concerns; patients from that part of the city will be sent to other emergency rooms by the emergency rooms of the GP surgeries and that does not sit well with them.
GPs fear that the travel distances will be too far for some patients, which could be an obstacle to going to the doctor, especially for the less fortunate Amsterdam residents. This in turn can lead to worsening of the complaints, the doctors warned.
Exceptional cases
The Huisartsenposten Amsterdam has had the RIVM conduct an accessibility analysis. According to Van Geffen, this showed that even after the closure of the emergency post in South, all patients can reach a post in Amsterdam on time. Moreover, according to her, exceptions can always be made.
People should always call first to make an appointment at a GP post. “Then triage nurses always ask patients who are old and vulnerable if they can come or be taken to the post office. There is always an option to have a GP make a home visit in those exceptional cases.”
