More people are being referred by their GP to a hospital or mental health clinic. The number is still lower than it would have been without a corona outbreak, but it is increasing compared to last week. The Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) cannot yet say whether this is a direct result of the decreasing number of corona cases and hospital admissions.
The number of referrals last week was 80 percent of the number that would normally be expected. The week before this was 72 percent.
The NZa estimates that GPs have made more than a million fewer referrals since the start of the corona outbreak. The number of missed referrals is still increasing “but less rapidly than in recent weeks”, according to the care watchdog.
Not being referred does not always pose a problem. In some cases the complaints disappeared on their own, and sometimes the doctor could carry out the treatment himself. But there are probably also people who are still walking around with untreated complaints, such as heart disease or tumors. They have to be treated later.
By: ANP | Photo: Pixabay
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