“Let me be clear: the shortage of GPs is not a GP problem,” says Matthijs Limpens at the start of the interview. “The problem is much bigger than that.” Let's first consider the numbers. Around the Netherlands, GPs are being trained in increasing numbers: 620 in 2010, 850 this year. “In Maastricht and Eindhoven together, 96 trainees now enrol annually in a three-year programme ‘for and by’ the region. By using our regional network we’re able to contribute to the continuity of GP care in Limburg and Southeast Brabant.” One of those future GPs is Moniek Wouda, now in her third year of training. She has first-hand experience of the shortages. “When my trainers are on holiday it’s hard to arrange replacements, even in a region where the shortage of GPs isn’t that bad.”

Research commissioned in 2018 by the National Association of General Practitioners and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport shows that next year 22 regions around the country will face a shortage of GP care, despite the growth in the number of trainees. According to Limpens, one reason is that the new generation of GPs want to work 40 hours a week instead of the usual 60 to 80 hours of their predecessors. And these young doctors are less likely to opt for their own practice; particularly at the start of their careers, they prefer to work as observers on a freelance basis. But this, Limpens says, is not the heart of the problem.

The issue is that GPs are footing the bill for the cutbacks in mental healthcare, youth care and social services. “Patients who are on a waiting list and have nowhere else to go turn to their GP, who ends up just papering over the cracks,” Wouda says. Limpens: “There are differences between municipalities, but on the whole the entire social domain—social work, social services and the government itself—has become more complicated and difficult to approach for patients.” The GP, on the other hand, is approachable—and so the duties pile up.

The lack of beds in healthcare inevitably leads to distressing situations that GPs can do nothing to prevent. “One elderly lady at our practice should have been in a psychiatric institution, but there was no place for her,” Wouda says. “We found her at home in her own faeces. You have to wait for things to get that bad and then it becomes a crisis admission.” While caring for patients—the aspect of the job that every doctor finds fulfilling, Limpens says—is becoming more difficult, there is also a significant increase in administrative work. “The regulatory pressure from the government and health insurers leads to frustration. When you’re already run off your feet doing your core duties, you can’t deal with that as well.” The capacity might be sufficient, he says, without the extra burden imposed by policy decisions. “The training programme has grown in recent years, but without policy changes, you’re fighting a losing battle.”