ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to assess the quality of general practitioner (GP) care in the Netherlands from the patients' point of view and to look at the changes in quality of GP care between 1987 and 2001. It explores the weak and strong points of GP care in the Netherlands, looking through the eyes of the patients. The chapter looks at the changes in quality of care ratings over time, by comparing results from the first and second Dutch National Surveys of General Practice (DNSGP-1 and DNSGP-2). Trends in quality of care (QoC) ratings for Dutch GPs are difficult to establish, because instruments used in DNSGP-2 differ from the way this concept was measured in DNSGP-1. The fact that between 1987 and 2001 many Dutch GPs have reorganised their services with respect to making house calls and their availability outside office hours is reflected in patients' QoC ratings when the authors compare the results of DNSGP-1 and DNSGP-2.
