Data Resource Profile: The Integrated Primary Care Information (IPCI) database, The Netherlands

Accessibility of health care is very good in The Netherlands. More than 99% of the population has health insurance 1 and almost all citizens are registered with a general practitioner (GP). People are free to choose their GP. Enrolment at a general practice can be rejected because of capacity limitations or too great a distance between the practice and the patient's address. The GP forms the point of care and acts as a gatekeeper to accessing secondary care. Over 12 months, around 78% of the population has at least one contact with their GP. 2 Patient data in the GP records include demographic information, patient's complaints and symptoms, diagnoses, laboratory test results, lifestyle factors and correspondence with secondary care, such as referral and discharge letters.