Why did you decide to deploy the Medicoo app?
"West Zeeuws-Vlaanderen is one of the most ageing areas in the Netherlands. There is a severe shortage of GPs and this will only increase: five out of seven practice owners are expected to retire within five years. Because of the rural nature of the area and the limited provision of public transport, a relatively high number of visits are made. In short: pressure on care is already high throughout the year.
Every summer, we also welcome another 30,000 holidaymakers to our region. In 2021, an average of 20 tourists a day called on the GP care in our practice. A solution had to be found to cope with the peak summer load and reduce the workload. That's why we started talking to Medicinfo about using the Medicoo app to deal with tourists' health queries."
As a result, 50% of initial healthcare queries are resolved by Medicinfo without the intervention of the GP practice. Without this app, all Ukrainians would call the doctor's assistant directly.
"Half fewer physical holiday consultations with Medicoo app - that makes a huge difference!" Reason for using the app again next year.
How did the introduction go?
"We had some minor start-up problems with the language versions, so German tourists sometimes ended up in the Dutch app. But overall, it was seen as very positive that they could communicate in their own language.
Younger people picked it up faster than older ones, but that makes sense. The older generation also values personal contact more. We take that into account. And sometimes people had some trouble being patient. If it was very busy, an app was not always answered immediately."
For which complaints was the app widely used?
"Actually the normal holiday questions, such as ear and stomach complaints and forgotten medication. Generally small, non-urgent complaints. But even those small complaints cost you a lot of time as a practice to handle."
Did the app bring the desired relief?
"Yes! We saw almost 50% fewer people in practice than in other years. That really makes a difference in terms of workload. A care call from a holidaymaker normally takes you a lot of time as a practice. You take the call, note someone's details in the system and then another consultation follows. That also often takes longer than usual because you don't know someone. So all in all, you spend 20 to 30 minutes per tourist. If you see 20 a day, that's one whole day a week. We really can't absorb that. That's why we want to work with the Medicoo app again next year.
The cooperation with Medicinfo was also very good from the start. We were able to set everything up together within a very short time. And there was openness on both sides about what could be improved and the ability to move quickly on improvements. As a result, there was also a lot of trust right away."
Do you also see opportunities to apply Medicoo in mainstream care?
"In the future, it could definitely be an option. We saw that young people find it very positive to be able to ask health questions in an approachable way. I can imagine it could be a nice solution for some parts of the day. But of course it can never completely replace personal contact. You will always need that combination of digital and physical care."
Monique de Meijer has been Manager & POH at Huisartsenpraktijk Oostburg-Cadzand for over twenty years. She also teaches health law at the Breederode Institute in Rotterdam.
