ArticleBMC health services research2022
The use of out-of-hours primary care during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in BMC health services research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Task shifting from general practitioners to nurses and the association with patient flow and resource use in out-of-hours primary care clinics: a descriptive register-based study.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Article
- GP characteristics and video use in out-of-hours primary care: a register-based study.BJGP open · 2025Article
- Implications of Data Extraction and Processing of Electronic Health Records for Epidemiological Research: Observational Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Observational
- Impact of COVID-19 on Dutch General Practitioner Prenatal Primary Care: Retrospective, Observational Cohort Study Using an Interrupted Time-Series Approach.JMIR pediatrics and parenting · 2025Article
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on antibiotic prescription rates in out-of-hours primary care - a register-based study in Denmark.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2025Article
- Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the accuracy of telephone triage of callers with shortness of breath and/or chest discomfort in Dutch out-of-hours primary care: A retrospective observational study.The European journal of general practice · 2024Observational
- The Added Value of Using Video in Out-of-Hours Primary Care Telephone Triage Among General Practitioners: Cross-Sectional Survey Study.JMIR human factors · 2024Article
- Dutch GP healthcare consumption in COVID-19 heterogeneous regions: an interregional time-series approach in 2020-2021.BJGP open · 2024Article
- Use of Video in Telephone Triage in Out-of-Hours Primary Care: Register-Based Study.JMIR medical informatics · 2024Article
- The impact on primary care of a large waterborne campylobacter outbreak in Norway: a controlled observational study.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2024Observational
- Trends in antibiotic prescribing in primary care out-of-hours doctors' services in Ireland.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2024Article
- What can we learn from experiences in general practice during the COVID-19 pandemic? A qualitative study.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- The association between municipal pandemic response and COVID-19 contacts to emergency primary health care services: an observational study.BMC health services research · 2023Observational
- Did the general practice residents well adapt to real public health prevention --a study from the COVID-19 prevention training in China.BMC medical education · 2022Article
- Antibiotic Prescribing in Dutch Daytime and Out-of-Hours General Practice during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Database Study.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn the Netherlands, General Practitioners (GP) are usually the first point of contact with a health professional for most health problems. Out-of-hours (OOH) primary care is provided by regional OOH services. Changes in consultation rates at OOH services may be regarded as a warning system for failures elsewhere in the healthcare system. Therefore in this study, we investigated how the COVID-19 pandemic changed the use of primary care OOH services during the first year of the pandemic.
methodsRoutine electronic health records data were used from 60% of OOH services in the Netherlands, collected by the Nivel Primary Care Database. We compared consultation rates per week (2020) for COVID-19-like symptoms and other health problems (e.g. small traumas, urinary tract infections), for different age groups, the proportion of remote consultations, and different levels of urgency during the pandemic compared to the same period in 2019.
resultsThe number of consultations for COVID-19-like symptoms peaked at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, while consultations for other health problems decreased. These changes in consultation rates differed between age groups. Remote consultations took place more frequently for all health problems, while the proportion of non-urgent health problems increased.
conclusionThere were significant changes in the number of consultations and the proportion that were remote for COVID-19-like symptoms and other health problems. Especially care for babies and young children decreased, while the number of consultations for older adults remained stable. The continued use of OOH services by older adults suggests there were unmet care needs elsewhere in our healthcare system.
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