When comparing health systems across the world, The Netherlands is often ranked highly and featured in many case studies as an exemplar. Given the great British pastime of considering 'the future of the NHS', I thought it would be a good idea to see if our Dutch colleagues could provide some clues as to their success. I was awarded a Hippokrates Erasmus+ placement, organised by the RCGP and WONCA Europe, which took place at the Pannenhoef Health Centre in Kaatsheuval, which is a small town of about 20 000 residents and hosts one of the oldest theme parks in the world: Efteling. The bread-and-butter parts of primary care are broadly similar in both countries: appointment systems, patient mix, GPs' roles, salaries and hours mirror those in the UK. Following recent policy announcements for the English NHS, and after many conversations with healthcare professionals, GPs, patients and academics, I found three areas where I felt we could learn from the Dutch experience: Ways of working, out of hours (OOH) provision and workforce.
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