CHILDRENS HEALTH

Curative Care - You and Your GP

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The GP (family doctor, huisarts ) is in theory the first point of contact for all aspects of curative care in this country, for both children and adults. Whether your child has a persistent sniffle, short sight, a broken arm, dyslexia - whatever it is, you need to talk to your huisarts first and foremost. Not to your clinic, which is one mistake I made with my first child here when she had 'flu, and they kindly pointed me towards our huisarts !

Nearly all doctors work in a health centre ( gezondheidscentrum ) with a team of other doctors and quite likely various other healthcare providers such as physiotherapists, midwives, osteopaths, you name it. This means that although Dr. A may be the doctor with whom your child is registered, in actual fact you'll probably end up seeing any one of Drs B, C, D or E, depending on when you want the appointment. They all, obviously, have appropriate access to your records (electronic these days; expect the doctor to type in comments on the PC during your appointment), but your own doctor A sees your child more often and has more insight into her development, in theory at least. If schedules permit, therefore, and if it's not urgent, it's definitely worth getting the appointment specifically with your very own Dr. A.

Apart from dealing with less major complaints, the GP is the official 'gatekeeper' through whom you have access to all other specialists. The basic idea is that he both checks whether the complaint is real before passing you on to the specialist, and has enough knowledge of your child's medical history to put two and two together and potentially help considerably with diagnosis and treatment.

Outside normal working hours you should ring the huisartsenpost , the after-hours non-emergency service, of which more here. For emergencies, you should also contact - yes, that's right! Your huisarts . He or she really is ubiquitous in this country, and the Dutch huisarts has some characteristic traits which it's worth knowing about. Read on here.

Family doctor part