Exercise with a prescription in the Netherlands
Certainly, the idea of a prescription exercise is not well known in the Netherlands and is already being used in various forms at the local level. In 2016, the Mulier Institute already evaluated a project in Nieuwegein by SportID in which healthcare professionals referred people with (alleged) exercise deficient to a sports professional to start exercising or exercising. The research revealed that barriers to healthcare professionals are not always aware of the range of sports on offer, so that they do not always consider referral. Participants reported that the transition after three months from a reduced to a regular rate of sports presentation was a barrier to continuing. In order to ensure that people continue to exercise specifically, the main benefit should be the ‘workout prescription’.
This discussion also plays a role in the Combined Lifestyle Intervention (GLI), which has been part of the core package for health insurers since 2019. In contrast to the UK experience, the GLI focuses specifically on people who are obese or overweight. Healthcare professionals have a limited palette for this with three recognized interventions aimed at a healthy lifestyle. At the end of last year, Secretary of State Paul Blochis showed with a fact sheet that the number of GLI participants is increasing (total more than 79,000 since the beginning), but nothing is known about the impact on the lifestyle of these people due to the short duration.
It would also be interesting to follow this long-term impact on the English language experience, especially because the first payment must also be given by an already busy GP. This is also possible with the Doncaster Doctor’s Cry for Help in mind bottleneck for the continued success of the program.
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