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vi Making General Practice Attractive: Encouraging GP attraction and Retention KCE Reports 90C
Initiatives to improve the working conditions:
• Favoring the work in team or within networks should decrease the
perception of isolation and the difficult working conditions for the GPs
who work in single-handed practices;
• Working in a group practice might be a solution for some GPs e.g. to
benefit from administrative support, to delegate some tasks, to enjoy a
multidisciplinary work;
• The development of well organized out-of-hours services should
relieve the GPs from the stress of individual duty while guaranteeing
the continuity of care in the ambulatory setting;
• Initiatives like career breaks (including maternity leaves), part time
work, encouraging CME activities during working hours should create a
better balance with the private life;
• Improving the image of the GP profession should involve new career
perspectives (e.g. research, quality initiatives).
Initiatives to improve the financial conditions:
• The Belgian authorities should extend the current incentives for
working in team and working in underserved areas;
• Differences between the incomes of GPs and other specialists should
be analyzed to go towards a softening of these differences if they are
confirmed;
• Valid information about the GP remuneration and the diversification of
payment mechanisms to complete the current fee-for-service system
could reverse the negative image that students have about the financial
conditions of the profession.
Some existing policies are in accordance with the recommendations mentioned above
but tools are needed to evaluate their impact.
This study furthermore highlighted the importance of the negative perception of the
status of the GP profession. However the results do not lead to the suggestion of
concrete solutions to improve this image among students and physicians in Belgium.
The recommendations mentioned above imply the integration of different levels of
decisions to ensure that policies set up at the level of the Communities for the
attraction (in relation with education) are in accordance with the decisions taken at the
Federal level for the GP trainees and for the GP who already practice.