Cancer survivors visit their general practitioner more often for common symptoms like back pain, abdominal pain, or infections than the general population. The number of contacts due to chronic diseases and psychosocial problems is only slightly higher, according to a publication of NIVEL researchers in the European Journal of Cancer.

The way general practitioners (GPs) are paid has only limited effects on the affordability, accessibility and quality of care. Medical ethics and guidelines in Dutch general practice seem to have counteracted large differences in the provision of health care, says Christel van Dijk in NIVEL-research on which she attained the doctoral degree at Tilburg University.

Nursing homes, homes for the elderly and home care organizations that previously received a relatively poor assessment of patients, have improved their care. Their performance could have been even better if clients had been actively involved in implementing improvements. This is what Marloes Zuidgeest concludes in her PhD-thesis. The study was a joint effort of Tranzo, NIVEL and the Dutch Centre for Consumer Experience in Health Care.

At the end of their life, cure is less often an important treatment aim for patients with cancer than for patients with another disease. For only a small number of patients palliation as well as cure is a treatment aim, as a publication by researchers at NIVEL and VUmc shows in the British Journal of General Practice.