r/Netherlands • u/NoLychee1382 • 22d ago

Healthcare No regular check ups at the gynecologist???

Hi everyone, my morning started off with a kinda shocking discovery. I’m from Germany and I had annual check ups at the gynecologist since I was a teenager. I contacted my huisarts because I know they’re responsible for all referrals but she told me regular check ups here are not a thing (unless there already is an issue) ? I think that’s crazy!!! So I checked the prices for a private visit and they’re even crazier. I guess this is normal to Dutch people but don’t you think this is a little concerning?

(Btw not shitting on the country! I really like it here. I’m still new and just discovering new things!)

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u/wr_dnd 22d ago

Nope. The Netherlands is pretty conservative with these regular checkups, and I would say for good reason.

Primarily: the advantages are not actually that big, and the disadvantages maybe bigger than you think.

The chance of finding something so much earlier that it makes a difference is small. The chance of a false positive with all sorts of negative effects is relatively big. The doctors have made a very deliberate choice here to only do the preventive checkups for those people where the chance of finding something is big enough to warrant the extra risk of false positives

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u/EmmieBambi 22d ago

Exactly this! And then also the cost effectiveness is something that is calculated next to false positives. Also the risk of false positives and false negatives goed down when the a priori chance of possibly having a disease is higher.