Frequently asked questions
The GP post is intended for all urgent GP complaints that really cannot wait until the next working day.
You can think of:
- Acute, disturbing symptoms
- Sudden, severe pain
- Increasing symptoms in case of serious illness
For other questions, please contact your own GP during office hours or first check Thuisarts.nl
The GP post is only there for health complaints that are urgent in the evening, night, weekend and during holidays. If your complaint is not urgent, you can visit your own GP the next working day.
Anyone who calls the GP Post will get a well-trained assistant on the line. The assistant will ask for your details and your complaints. She is trained to consider what help can best be offered. She can often give you advice by telephone. If necessary, she will consult with one of the general practitioners, or connect you to a general practitioner. If necessary, an appointment will be made with you at the post. At the GP Post, the GP has assistance and a well-equipped consulting room; There are more opportunities for research than at home.
You must arrange your own transport to the GP Medical Post. In cases where transport is not responsible, such as heart attacks and serious lung diseases, one of the general practitioners can come to your home. If necessary, you will be referred to the hospital.
For the transport of our GPs, we work together with specially trained drivers from BAS-Ambulance Service. They are in possession of a CPR diploma and can assist the GP in case of emergencies. They also maintain contact with the GP post during the visits.
The following information is required when you call the postal service:
- Your name, address and date of birth
- Name of your GP
- Your medication (if any)
- Your Social Security Number
- Your insurance number
The telephone lines of the post office are very widely used. You help the assistant by keeping the conversations short.
Yes. The basic insurance covers the costs of the GP and therefore also of the GP at the GP post.
Yes. Sometimes you do not have to come to the post and telephone advice is sufficient. The doctor’s assistant on the phone acts under the responsibility of a general practitioner. This GP checks and assesses her advice. To charge for a telephone consultation, it is not necessary that there is contact between a patient and the GP at the GP post.
It is likely that our system does not have your correct insurance details. Please contact our financial administration to check your details (see contact page).
This is done by the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa). This national body sets the rates for healthcare institutions. Every year, the NZa looks at which rates the GP post should charge. The rates may differ per GP post.
No. The GP post is only there for medical help that cannot wait.
If you call our out-of-hours GP service about a complaint that is not urgent, the assistant will refer you to the consultation hours of your own GP.
In principle, yes. Our doctor’s assistant will schedule the appointment immediately during your telephone contact. Sometimes you have to wait a while. For example, because consultations run late or very acute requests for help come in between. Especially on Saturdays, it is often busy during consultation hours and the waiting time can increase. The doctor’s assistant can usually estimate how long the waiting time is.
This is necessary for the proper organization of emergency care. The doctor’s assistant on the phone will determine what help is needed and how quickly you need to be helped. By planning well, we can also prevent you from having to wait a long time at the GP post.
It can be very busy, especially on Saturdays and Sundays. Sometimes all assistants are talking at the same time. You will then be put ‘on hold’. By preparing your conversation with the out-of-hours GP service, you help to keep waiting times short. For example, you can write down some details of the person you are calling for in advance (date of birth, name, insurance details, names of medicines used).
Your GP will always receive a report of your visit to the GP Medical Post.
Our phone calls are recorded and kept for a certain amount of time. This makes it easier for us to reconstruct the course of events in the event of misunderstandings, complaints and errors.
GP post ‘t Hellegat and GP practices in the region are developing the electronic exchange of patient data. This allows the GP post to quickly request and view up-to-date medical data of a patient. Read more in the news article LSP. It may take quite some time before the medical data of all patients are available at the GP post. This is partly due to the fact that GPs work with different computer systems.
Yes. The out-of-hours GP service records all conversations and stores them for a period of five years. Conversations are recorded from the moment the assistant picks up the phone to the moment the assistant or the GP disconnects. Strict rules apply to this, both legally and internally. There are also strict conditions for listening to conversations.
We do this: As a tool to improve the quality of our telephone contacts and also as a source of information when a patient has a complaint about our services.
Yes. The out-of-hours GP service will inform your own GP of your contact with the out-of-hours GP service the next working day.
No transport is not a reason for the GP to make a home visit. Only if you cannot go to the post office for medical reasons, the visiting doctor will come to your home. In other cases, you will have to provide your own transport.
Yes. The GP post car is equipped with all kinds of medical devices for emergency care, such as a ventilator and a defibrillator. If necessary, we ask for assistance from the ambulance service.
If the situation is life-threatening, you will be given priority. The GP will then do everything he can to get to you as soon as possible. If necessary, we will immediately call in an ambulance.
Normally, you ask your own doctor for a repeat prescription. Only in case of emergency can a GP prescribe a repeat prescription at the GP post. He or she will then prescribe as many medicines as you need until the next consultation hour of your own GP.