Eerstelijnszorg bij verstandelijk beperking kan beter

As people with an intellectual disability (ID) have more health needs than others, it is not surprising that they tend to request more out-of-hours GP care compared with the general population. Their requests, however, are more often classified at the lowest level of urgency. This raises questions, especially in times of over-stretched GP cooperatives and a general quest for efficiency. This commentary reflects upon current developments in care for people with ID, such as de-institutionalization and decreasing numbers of nursing staff in the Netherlands. It also stresses the importance of optimal health-information exchange between carers and the GP during office hours. The Netherlands has one of the best primary care systems in the world. The availability of highly qualified GPs with the support of specialized physicians for people with ID, if required, offers promising preconditions for accessible, high quality primary care for people with ID; however, this must be accompanied by organizational improvements by ID-care providers in the preparation and selection of requests before contacting out-of-hours GP cooperatives.

Conflict of interest and financial support: none declared.