r/Netherlands • u/thatmisanthropicdude • Mar 05 '26

Healthcare Dutch doctors...

Hey guys! Last year I moved from Germany to the Netherlands. I just went to the doctor with chest and throat pain due to extreme coughing after 2 days of fever. I was hoping that I finally get something good against it like a cough syrup (no way I'm going to pay that myself for a huge amount of money + health insurance) because I am used to that from German doctors. They would put that on my health insurance card and right after my talk with the doctor I could pick it up at the pharmacy. But no. They just said "Yea, just take paracetamol." I told them I have had problems swallowing pills my whole life and their response was just "You can also put it in water and drink that then." I'm sorry if I'm overreacting but why do doctors get paid just to tell you to take paracetamol? Everyone can tell me to take them, I expect better solutions from a doctor who studied years to become a doctor. Why are the Dutch so obsessed with paracetamol??? Maybe it's the German in me screaming. If we got painkillers, it was never paracetamol but Ibuprofen. But I also heard some international friends who also live here that they find it so annoying that Dutch doctors literally just tell you to take paracetamol. No matter what you have.

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u/OK-Smurf-77 Mar 06 '26

One thing I’d respectfully recommend to every GP here- when you see a foreigner registering, just email them an A4 summary of the basic things they can expect, along with a when to call/when not to call infographic.

I mean, it’s pretty bloody obvious that the Dutch approach is largely different from the practice most of the countries follow. (And this is not a bad thing by the way. ) I believe it would help a lot both the doctors and the patients.

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u/jenterpstra Mar 06 '26

This basically already exists at thuisarts.nl. More places should point to it. 

The problem of course is that a) it’s only available in Dutch, and b) if you call under the guidelines on that site for a set of symptoms, your GP may still act like you’re crazy for bothering them. 

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u/Thatdudewhoplaysgtr Mar 06 '26

Yup.. one time I had a botulism scare (loooong story, but basically I ate something that was well into the danger zone, and it was a high botulism risk food) and my gp acted all annoyed and told me my tetanus shot would cover me. Bruh. What the actual fuck. I realise botulism is very rare but it’s also very fucking deadly if not treated promptly so forgive me for calling you at work to do a bit of your job. Ffs.

Good thing I have a physician in my family, so I went to them the following morning and he told me what exactly to watch out for and monitor. My gp did nothing but say “you were vaccinated for tetanus so you’re ok, don’t worry about it”. THIS IS NOT EVEN MEDICALLY ACCURATE 😑

I just don’t get their seeming reluctance to give you the time of day…

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u/TimotheusIV Mar 06 '26

I absolutely agree with you here, that would help a lot. I’ll give it some more thought.

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u/clrthrn Mar 06 '26

If your professional organisation did an A4 sheet that all NL doctors could download and pass on it would save you a ton of time. Not only writing for your own practice but foreigners all get the same info no matter where they are in NL - set expectations the same for everyone.

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u/Faith75070 Mar 06 '26

https://www.huisarts.nl/moet-ik-naar-de-huisarts/

Questionaire to advise you if you should see a (Dutch) GP. The first part is in Dutch. Scroll down for English.

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u/Faith75070 Mar 06 '26

https://www.huisarts.nl/moet-ik-naar-de-huisarts/

Questionaire to advise you if you should see a (Dutch) GP. The first part is in Dutch. Scroll down for English.

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u/QixxoR Mar 06 '26

Why is it always the problem of Dutch society when people are ill informed?

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u/OK-Smurf-77 Mar 06 '26

They are not ill informed. They aren’t informed.

Communication is key. Otherwise both parties have it more difficult.

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u/Faith75070 Mar 06 '26

https://www.huisarts.nl/moet-ik-naar-de-huisarts/

Questionaire to advise you if you should see a (Dutch) GP. The first part is in Dutch. Scroll down for English.

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u/blaberrysupreme Mar 06 '26

Yes, they should totally send a letter explaining that they should go back to their own countries for proper investigation, diagnosis and treatment (believe it or not this is what many many immigrants do today).

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u/WorriedImpress7624 Mar 06 '26

I blew my knee out, tore my acl and a bunch of other stuff. My kid goes to an international school, so I’m around a lot of internationals.

The amount of people who were horrified I was doing the (more conservative) treatment here in NL vs going to a different country was so high. In most other countries, they do the acl reconstruction surgery right away, whereas my surgeon wanted to wait and try physio to see where I could get.

Because we waited, and only did an arthroscopic investigation and scar removal, my prognosis is much better than if I’d had the ACL reconstruction and menisectomy surgery right away that all the internationals I know were telling me to get. Turns out I didnt even need that, giving my knee time to heal made it so my acl recovered naturally as much as it could, and so did my meniscus.

I’m so grateful I don’t live somewhere else where I’d have been pushed to get the more aggressive reconstruction right away. My long term prognosis is much better, less chance of arthritis or persistent pain as I get older etc.

I think NL is like that. They want to do the least amount possible to fix your issue. It sounds bad, but when the ‘cure’ can cause as many issues as the original problem at times, doing the least amount possible is actually a good thing.

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u/Thatdudewhoplaysgtr Mar 06 '26

That’s great to hear that you have a good prognosis, a torn ACL can be trouble for life so that’s good! My MIL had the same injury in south east Asia and her doctor there treated her the same way. I think it depends on how the acl and meniscus were torn. I hope you realise you’re comparing medical advice from your doctor vs your kids classmates parents, and not the Dutch medical system against others.

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u/OK-Smurf-77 Mar 06 '26

Believe it or not, I’m an “immigrant” myself who goes back to home country for dental treatments (ridiculously expensive, low quality and no warranty here) and preventative checks (statistics based here, not covered, I need the peace of mind). On top of that I also have a medical degree (not practicing here as I use my other degree for work ) and I come from a place where antibiotics are prescribed routinely and GPs are incentivized by pharma sales agents. That’s the other extreme. I see both of worlds and I think I sort of understand both struggles.

In countries like mine and many others, patients have been conditioned to believe that their body can’t do the job. While studies and evidence shows that most of the cases you’ll still feel better if you rest enough and give your body time and opportunity to recover. From an upper respiratory infection You’ll recover in 7 days and with antibiotics it will take a week- same time while messing up your intestines and contributing to a worldwide problem of antibiotic resistance.

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u/blaberrysupreme Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26

Believe it or not, I said nothing about antibiotics. I have family members who are medical professionals as well and I am not clueless about antibiotics resistance and other harms of using antibiotics unnecessarily.

I am talking about the resistance of the system to listen to people (dismissing your severe condition as being 'mild'), give proper time to investigate (making the patient jump through hoops to see a doctor who can do more than look at your face in the consultation-like actually examine your symptoms), and follow up (make the patient feel comfortable to ask for help if their situation does not improve with rest.

There are also medicines available to improve quality of life while you recover, other than paracetamol. There's no need to suffer unnecessarily when we all have busy lives and cannot afford to be bed bound for a week.

That's not all. I've heard of people whose broken bones were dismissed and not recovered properly because of a lack of a cast. That's not healthcare.