© François Aulner / RTL
From March, patients will be able to book appointments with multiple specialists at the new Findel Clinic, a private initiative aiming to ease access to medical care in Luxembourg.
From 1 March, patients at the Findel Clinic will be able to book appointments with around 15 different specialists, with consultations available from 7am until 8pm.
Behind the project are doctors Alain Schmit and Philippe Wilmes, who until recently sat on the committee of the doctors' and dentists' association (AMMD), where they argued for more liberal medicine and warned that Luxembourg was no longer financially attractive for doctors. They stress that this is not a political project and that it follows the current legal and convention framework.
Since the newspaper 'Lëtzebuerger Land' reported on the initiative last Friday, the founders have been emphasising that they are neither opening a clinic, a hospital, nor a doctors' association, and will not carry out outpatient interventions.
Instead, they describe the project as a platform for an interdisciplinary group practice. "No operations are carried out here. No radiology is done here. No endoscopies are done here", says Philippe Wilmes, who explains that only procedures typically carried out in doctors' practices will be offered, but in a coordinated network between various specialists.
Paediatrics, psychiatry, gynaecology, urology, cardiology, pneumology, rheumatology, and neurology are among the specialisations planned at the Findel Clinic, rather than individual specialists grouping together in separate practices.
According to Alain Schmit, comparable structures exist abroad, though not in this form in Luxembourg. He says that improving cooperation between specialists outside hospital settings could also help GPs provide better patient care by offering quicker access to specialists when needed.
The founders repeatedly highlight long waiting times for first appointments with specialists, arguing that access to medicine is inadequate due to an overall shortage of doctors. The idea for the Findel Clinic arose from the question of what could attract more doctors to Luxembourg.
"What is it today that bothers a doctor in his practice? It is often the administrative, the organisational tasks", says Wilmes. He explains that the concept offers doctors a full organisational service, allowing them to open their practices within the facility and focus on their patients.
© François Aulner - rtl.lu
They do not disclose what this service costs or how much doctors must pay the company behind the project, which includes investors such as entrepreneur Marc Giorgetti and banker Marc Hoffmann. Because the doctors offering consultations can only bill CNS acts, it remains unclear what the financial incentive is, or how the investment into the Findel Clinic will be made profitable.
However, the founders say short-term returns are not the priority. Instead, Philippe Wilmes and Alain Schmit point to the value of having satisfied doctors and patients and to the possibility of expanding the model if it proves successful. "The main investment we are making here is our time, our heart, and our blood that we put into it", they say.
The announcement comes as tensions escalate between the AMMD, the CNS, and Health Minister Martine Deprez. The AMMD has terminated the convention with the CNS, partly arguing that private practices should receive infrastructure funding similar to hospitals.
The founders of the Findel Clinic stress that they are not receiving any CNS funding for the installation. "We initiated this project. It has nothing to do with a political agenda", says Schmit, adding that the lack of doctors and limited access to healthcare prompted the initiative. He says they no longer have influence over current negotiations, as they are no longer on the AMMD committee.
Criticism that projects like theirs could undermine hospital profitability by leaving hospitals to treat only the most complex cases is rejected by the founders, who insist their activity has nothing to do with hospital operations. The Findel Clinic is scheduled to open its doors next to the airport on 1 March, with an appointment-booking website already online.
