It was close to whether the general practice in Zwijndrecht had to be closed due to a corona outbreak. The general practitioner of that practice ended up in the IC, and several employees also fell ill.
Fortunately, retired doctor Peter Top from Dordrecht came to the rescue. “I went back to work to prevent the practice from having to close,” says Top.
Keep it going
It takes some getting used to working again, but it is also greatly appreciated, he says. Top has now been running the practice with 4,400 patients since Christmas. “I am grateful that I can do this. Fortunately, the sick colleague is slowly recovering.”
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Art and flying work
GPs throughout the country keep the care going with art and flying work. It is a combination of factors that make the work difficult.
In the first corona wave, the consultation rooms were virtually empty because care was avoided en masse, now much more ends up on the GP’s plate. “We can refer less to the specialist in the hospital, so we take over many tasks from the hospitals. We see some patients much more often now.”
Patients also dare to ask for more. And so more and more calls are coming in. “It all means more work,” says Tim Olde Hartman, general practitioner in Nijmegen.
The waiting time in his practice has increased to a week and a half. “Normally people could go the same week.” In addition, from February GPs will be given an important task in vaccinating the 18 to 60-year-old group with a medical indication.
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Crownuitbraken
And then corona is also taking hold in general practices. According to the National General Practitioners Association, 51 percent of general practitioners have to deal with a corona outbreak.
General practitioner Olde Hartman also received corona in November. “Fortunately, we are a large practice and were able to keep running. But if you are a small general practice, you really have a problem. I got sick myself and that put even more strain on the rest of my colleagues. They had to because of my absence. run even faster. ”
Effort and creativity
That more than half of general practitioners have to deal with dropout, largely caused by corona, does not surprise GP Olde Hartman. All around him he hears stories from colleagues who are struggling with outbreaks.
“I know from one practice that they had to close due to a corona outbreak. Fortunately, the rest of the practices manage to absorb it. That requires a lot of effort and creativity.”
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Emergency clock
The National General Practitioners Association is sounding the alarm. “Much more attention needs to be paid to GPs”, says Ella Kalsbeek on behalf of the 13,000 GPs in our country. “GPs have been working for many hours and are not complaining quickly. But they walk on their hind legs.”
According to Kalsbeek, it is all hands on deck for the GPs to keep things going. Top agrees: “We are the gatekeeper for healthcare. If this healthcare is endangered, if that function is compromised, this will also have consequences for the other healthcare.”
Weeks of 80 hours
Some GPs who spoke to RTL Nieuws speak of working weeks of 80 to 100 hours. They are talking about it. “It is also rewarding work to be on the front line and to be able to help in this unprecedented crisis,” describes general practitioner Olde Hartman, who himself was also disturbed by the virus. “I was really sick, had a severe flu. Stuffy, fever and exhausted.”
He wasn’t even worried about himself yet. “But more about my patients. I had a consultation that morning.” It won’t be … “, that went through my head, yes. Fortunately, no one was infected by me. And I have completely recovered.”
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