That seems like a big difference, and it is, but it can be explained. Every care system works differently. Because where, for example, the general practitioner is the first point of contact here, you go to a specialist in Germany more quickly.
More beds in Germany
Correspondent Jeroen Akkermans in Germany explains how it is there: “They said in Germany: we do not only organize care for the very sick. We start from the entire population.” And the Germans don’t just help their own people. There are already several Dutch people in German IC beds. Akkermans: “Germans do not like to close borders in times of crisis, including sick patients.”
IC beds in the Netherlands and Germany
In the normal situation, ie before the corona outbreak, the Netherlands has about 1,150 IC beds, according to the NVIC.
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And even when people come to the hospital, their treatment looks different in the Netherlands than in many other countries. “We have shortened the hospital stay of people in the Netherlands in the Netherlands,” says emeritus professor and health economist Guus Schrijvers of Utrecht University. “Suppose you get a new hip. Then you will often be outside again within a day. Then rehabilitation only starts, previously it took twelve days.”
Speak about death
That is a good thing, Schrijvers emphasizes. Schrijvers is also ‘quite proud’ when it comes to the occupation of IC beds when it comes to the Dutch working method. “We are very open in the Netherlands about talking about death. If an 86-year-old woman is infected and she has to go to IC, there is a high chance that she will die. The family will then be discussed what will happen. the question has really been asked how we do this. If she stays at home, the woman with family around her can die. ”
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And that does not happen in many other countries. German and American doctors will quickly say that you go to IC anyway, says Schrijvers.
Dance sprung from flu epidemic
Still. We must learn from the current situation. We should have done that two years ago, says Schrijvers. The flu epidemic back then almost caused a shortage of IC beds. “Then we sprang out of the dance. We slept. Not only the cabinet, but everyone. Me too, because I also write columns for professional journals and we didn’t pay any attention to them.”
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What should have happened then? There should have been a plan on how to get to a level of ic beds as soon as possible that we’re trying to get to now, Schrijvers says. He makes the comparison with the flood disaster in Zeeland. “After that disaster, we made a delta plan. So it wouldn’t happen again.” And that must also happen in healthcare.
Not permanent 3000 beds
Writers: “You don’t have to have 3000 ic beds permanently. Because there should be buildings for this, and you have to buy new equipment every few years. That is unnecessary.” You will certainly not hear Schrijvers shouting whether there should be extra beds at all, but what if we do not make it on the ic? “Then you have to do something with it,” he says.
In any case, what you can do is have an idea of how to get to that number of beds as quickly as possible, says Schrijvers. He takes the police as an example. “There are also not always ME vans that you can use. Those people are usually also a police officer. But if necessary, the vans are there.”
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And for a large part it should also be possible in healthcare. “Operating rooms can in some cases be used as an IC bed, which is now happening, and at New York City Hospital Bellevue, they have quickly turned single rooms into ICs.” Everything is happening everywhere now, it is important to learn from it.
Commission after the crisis
And what if that moment comes? That moment when this corona crisis is behind us? Schrijvers hopes that there will be a committee. No committee ‘ic capacity’, but a committee ‘how can we best prepare for an infectious disease for which we do not have a vaccine’. “I hope we grab the cow by the horns, not the tail.”
In any case, one aspect of this is indispensable: “In any case, make sure that in the future there will be enough masks and material for healthcare personnel.”
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