Prime Minister Luc Frieden announced during his State of the Nation address on Tuesday that the government is financing extra on-call doctors in hospital emergency departments. However, this is not a new measure: it has been in effect since the start of the year. Meanwhile, hospitals say that in order to further relieve pressure on emergency services, they need general practitioners (GPs) to be more available for patients.
Frieden stated: "Access to the healthcare system must not be limited by long waiting times. That is why we are funding an additional on-call service for emergency departments in our hospitals." According to the sector, this measure has been in place since January. In practice, most emergency departments already operate with more than two doctors on duty, according to Dr Marc Berna, medical director at Robert Schuman hospital.
"At the moment, there are five doctors available here. The state wanted to guarantee a minimum number of doctors present, which led to this change", Berna explained. In all four hospitals with emergency departments in Luxembourg, there are now always at least two doctors on duty at all times. Nevertheless, the first point of contact for patients should remain the GP.
"This is just one step towards improving care for emergency patients. There are many others", Berna continued. Ongoing discussions between the Federation of Luxembourg Hospitals (FHL), the Association of General Practitioners, and the Ministry of Health are exploring how GPs can play a greater role in caring for emergency cases, offering more support to reduce unnecessary hospital visits.
The Federation of Luxembourg Hospitals has already proposed concrete ideas on how to better involve GPs. FHL Director Sylvain Vitali said: "How can we enable patients to see their GP as their first point of contact? That means GPs need to be more available, so that patients who do not have a life-threatening emergency can be treated directly by their family doctor", Vitali explained.
If a visit to the emergency department is necessary, patients must understand that triage takes place. "Patients are allocated according to the severity of their condition. Naturally, a patient with a life-threatening illness will be treated first, while someone with a sprained ankle – which may feel urgent to the patient, but is less severe in the overall picture – may have to wait longer", said Vitali.
At the beginning of the year, there were delays in paying doctors for their on-call duties. Health Minister Martine Deprez, of the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV), explained at the time that the delays were due to the reinforcement of emergency cover and the resulting late signing of the agreement.
