Hoe de bevalling verdween bij de huisarts: 1974-2011

Abstract
Wijthoff EPP, Stekelenburg J. The disappearance of obstetric care from general practice, 1974-
2011. Huisarts Wet 2017;60(2):65-7.
Background General practitioners (GPs) attend fewer and fewer deliveries. Hospital
delivery is increasingly popular and midwives often provide care for home births. This
article describes how obstetric services have changed in a general practice over 36
years.
Method Descriptive retrospective study of all deliveries in the period 1974–2011 attended
by the first author, a GP in rural Friesland, the Netherlands.
Results Of 1101 deliveries, 786 were attended by the GP and 315 occurred in hospital.
In 36 years, the annual number of deliveries attended by the GP decreased by 50%
while the proportion of hospital deliveries increased from less than 10% to more than
50%.
Conclusion Findings show that in the last 40 years obstetric services have virtually
disappeared from general practice. This is not related to the quality of care provided.
Almost without noticing it, GPs have lost responsibility for an important element of
family medicine.