Welcome to the website of General Practitioners’ Office Vredesplein.

On this page you will find important words translated into Dutch in italics.

Our phonenumber 040-2438215

This number offers 3 choices:

  Choose 1: for medical emergencies, you will be connected directly.

  Choose 3: for making appointments or normal questions.

  Choose 2: to reach the answering machine to order a new prescription of a medicine you have obtained before from our practice. E.g. tablets for hay fever, hypertension or birth control pill. Please state your name, date of birth, pharmacy and the name of the medicine. If approved by the doctor, the medicine will be ready for you after 16.00 hours at your pharmacy if you called before 11.30 hrs. Otherwise one day later.

  No Choice: within a few seconds you will be automatically connected to the medical secretary.

Office hours and replacement during absence

Our practice opens during weekdays from 8.00 until 17.00 hours.

All consultations are by appointment.
Our skilled medical secretaries are ready to help you when you call.
Appointments can be made in the morning before 10 am.

Outside office hours you can reach the emergency unit (Spoedpost) of the Catharina hospital in Eindhoven. Phone: 088 – 876 5151
This is a cooperation of all GP’s in Eindhoven its surrounding villages and the hospital.

Every Friday afternoon from 12.30 onwards only emergencies and urgent questions of our practice are handled by our staff.

During holidays or educational leave as announced on our answering machine you can reach practice Rapenland at Generaal Coenderslaan 51B, Eindhoven (phone 040-2431242) between 8.00 and 17.00 hours on weekdays.

Supporting staff

Our medical secretaries are trained to help you with simple medical problems and questions. They assist us with investigations, surgery, injections, PAP smears, etc. For instance: if you suspect having a simple urinary tract infection, you’ll be invited to come for urine investigation without consulting the doctor first.

We also have a specially educated nurse who makes individual consultations for patients with chronic illnesses like diabetes and asthma.

First visit to our practice

If you have never been to our practice before, please come 10 minutes before your scheduled appointment to enlist. You need to bring an identification card and proof of insurance. You will be asked to sign a paper which states that you declare to be enlisted as our patient. Refer to under Medical Insurance, to check if you need to bring money as well.

New address or leaving Eindhoven?

We would appreciate to hear from you if you plan to move house to ensure correct handling of insurance claims. You can get a copy of your medical record for your new doctor.

Medical Insurance / Payment

Please check your medical insurance before you come.

Residents / Dutch Insurance (company names like VGZ, CZ, IAK)

All basic medical and emergency care is covered. Consulting your GP is always free of charge if you are enlisted at his practice. For medicines, laboratory work and other hospital based care the first 375 euros each year are to be paid back to the insurance company if used. This amount can be higher according to your specific insurance conditions (lower fee, higher personal risk). For some medicines you will have to pay an additional charge at the pharmacy.

Physiotherapy, other paramedical services, medical care abroad and complementary medicine are paid usually up to a maximum of sessions or amount, only if you have signed for additional insurance. Please consult your own company before you consider such a treatment or before you embark on travels.

Student or Foreign Insurance (for instance AON, IPS, specific country)

Insurance company’s for foreigners and students have with different levels of cover and in some policies GP-consultation is not covered.

Since a lot of payments in the past have been denied we kindly have to ask you to pay for consultations in cash. We also have a PIN-machine.

You will receive proof of payment and can sent this bill yourself to your insurance company for reimbursement.

Rates 2020
(official nationwide)

Simple (question, approx. 10 minutes)	€ 28,83
Double (longer duration, several questions, surgery,joint-injections, including blood or urine analysis)	€ 59,66

Exception:

Only if you can present to us before consultation an ID and valid AON insurance policy paper which states full cover. Screenshots on mobile phones are not allowed.

Payments will not be refunded even if proof of cover will arrive later.

Introduction to the Dutch Healthcare system

The Dutch Healthcare system works in layers. The first layer is for everyday and chronic medical care and handles more than 90% of all medical problems. It consists of general practitioners/family doctors (huisarts, GP), laboratory and X-ray facilities (usually inside a hospital), pharmacies (apotheek), physiotherapists (fysiotherapeut, training and massage of musculoskeletal problems), psychologists (psycholoog), midwives (verloskundige, for pregnancy and delivery), nursing homes and organizations for care at your home address.

Every Dutch citizen and foreign resident has to enlist with their own general practitioner. The GP is responsible for your medical records and delivers personal, easy accessible care and guidance if you have a medical problem. All other medical professionals report back to your GP.

If necessary your doctor can refer you to a specialist (e.g. cardiologist, gynecologist) in the hospital (ziekenhuis). Together with all hospitalized care and regional psychiatric services they form the second layer. The third layer is formed by specialists in academic/university hospitals. They are only consulted in the most difficult cases by a colleague from the 2nd layer.

So, except for emergencies, you cannot visit the hospital without a referral letter from your general practitioner.

General Medicine

Some examples of which each general practice offers:

• Emergency care for
  • small injury’s (e.g. a few stitches, bruise, sprained ankle)
  • serious complaints (e.g. chest or abdominal pain, difficulty breathing)
• Advice, treatment or help for everyday ailments like
  • fever, flu and cough
  • headache or migraine
  • hay fever
  • anti conception / birth control
  • (testing for) sexually transmitted diseases
  • menstrual problems
  • skin rash
  • check-ups
  • traveling
  • feelings of depression or anxiety
• Chronic disease management in cooperation with the hospital for
  • Pulmonary, heart or cardiovascular disease
  • Diabetes
  • Eczema
  • Auto immune diseases like Crohn’s or Rheumatoid Arthritis

Government Prevention programs

Children from birth onward will undergo temporary check-ups for their growth and development and receive vaccinations. This is free of charge and is done at several locations in town (consultatiebureau).

Every woman will be automatically invited with a letter for the following investigations:

• Cervical cancer (PAP smear, from 30 until 60 years old every 5 years)
• Breast cancer (mammogram, every 2 years from 50 to 75 years)

Screening for colon cancer has started in 2014. Specified ages groups will get a stoolsampletest send to their home address.

There are ongoing debates in the Dutch health council about screening for prostatecancer.

If you think you are a candidate for a preventive investigation e.g. because you have a family history of a specific disease, please consult your GP.

Hospitals

The city of Eindhoven has two main hospitals:

• Catharina Hospital (near shopping mall Woensel)
  Michelangelolaan 2, 5623 EJ Eindhoven, Netherlands
• Máxima MC Eindhoven (Eindhoven branch, across TU/e)
  Dominee Theodor Fliednerstraat 1, 5631 BM Eindhoven, Netherlands

Around Eindhoven:

• At Geldrop: St Anna Hospital
• At Veldhoven: Maxima Medical Centre

You GP can advice you where to go, depending on the situation.

This website offers links to most care organizations in our neighborhood.

Privacy

All your medical records are kept with your GP in a digital database. It can only be accessed by your own GP, his office members and his replacement in Eindhoven during absence. There is a nationwide doctor web so that every doctor and hospital in the Netherlands can access every file in case of emergency but this is not yet fully operational. It’s possible to object to this exchange of your medical records or even only certain parts of it.

Dutch law forbids the every health professional to talk about your case with someone else, unless with your permission. There are a few exceptions to this rule: consultation of another doctor to ensure best care (e.g. a specialist), assumed permission if unable to answer (e.g. informing the family when a patient is in a coma), children under 12 towards their parents, matters of life and death (another persons health is at serious risk if secrecy is kept).