ZHCo-PeriScaldes wants to reduce the pressure on the GP emergency stations and is starting a colourful campaign
28-02-2022 -‘We want everyone to know that the GP post is really only for emergencies’
PRESS RELEASE
Heinkenszand, 28 February 2023
People often make unnecessary visits to the GP emergency stations (HAP) in Zeeland. This puts a lot of pressure on these posts. That has to change, according to ZHCo-PeriScaldes, the organization that facilitates the HAP on Walcheren, the Bevelanden and Schouwen-Duiveland. With a colorful campaign, she wants to create awareness that the HAP is really only intended for emergencies within general practitioner care.
GP emergency stations for 20 years
GPs in Zeeland work together to make emergency care possible in the evening, night and weekend hours, when the GP practice is closed. ZHCo-PeriScaldes facilitates three GP emergency stations (HAP) for this purpose: HAP Walcheren (Middelburg), HAP Bevelanden (Goes) and HAP Schouwen-Duiveland (Zierikzee). The organization is proud that this collaboration has been going well for 20 years this year. It requires close cooperation from the general practitioners, a lot of planning and a large group of support staff to ensure that everyone can always go for emergency care.
Unnecessary pressure
But it is busy at the emergency rooms, busier than it needs to be. The unnecessarily high workload at the HAP poses a threat to the provision of high-quality care and can lead to longer waiting times. There may come a tipping point that even more doctors are needed for the HAP. That, while there is already a shortage of GPs at regular times.
“That the HAP is there for emergency care, that is not clear to everyone. There is a group of people who cannot properly assess what an emergency is, and what can wait a while. It is important to emphasize that the General Practitioner is only there for general practice care during evening, night and weekend hours,” says Nicole le Duc, manager of GP posts at ZHCo-PeriScaldes. The organization also puts its own house in order: “A visit to the General Practitioner apparently feels accessible to people. That is partly good, but if people do not know that it is only for emergencies, the threshold may be too low.”
Who is the HAP for? Only if it is URGENTserious!
ZHCo-PeriScaldes now wants to make it clear through a campaign that the HAP is really only for emergencies, “Only if it is URGENTserious!”. By means of cartoons with a friendly wink, common situations are portrayed in a humorous way. For example, a man with serious injuries wants to go to the HAP proudly, because he knows that he has every reason to ask for help there. But there is also a desperate, brand new mother with a screaming baby on the line. Does she really need the HAP? A new cartoon will appear every month for six months.
“The reasons why people end up at the HAP unnecessarily are very different, from convenience to misunderstanding, and we hope to portray the diversity of the problem with the various cartoons. Everyone can understand these drawn situations and for each message we hopefully address the right people and they become aware of their own behavior.”
Online checklist
The HAP can of course be called. Expert triage nurses then carefully consider whether urgent care is needed. But if everyone does a check online first, this significantly reduces the pressure on the telephone lines. The website www.huisartsenspoedpostzeeland.nl has a handy checklist to quickly assess whether something is an emergency and advises when someone should call the HAP (or even 112) or just go to the GP practice later.
ZHCo-PeriScaldes originates from cooperating general practitioners and is committed to high-quality, multidisciplinary general practitioner care in the regions of De Bevelanden, Schouwen-Duiveland and Walcheren.
For more information: Johan Schaeffer, communication advisor, j.schaeffer@zhco-periscaldes.nl, 06 5719 3118
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