Akord project aims to improve doctors’ services

Endless queues at the doctors’ have long been a major complaint by Czech patients. Especially during the flu season, it’s not uncommon to wait an hour or more. But now that could change. In January the country’s largest insurer, VZP, will launch a project, entitled Akord (Accord), aimed at improving doctors’ services. That could cut down on time spent in the waiting room. Soon, many will be able to call ahead for appointments at participating practitioners, guaranteeing waiting times of just 15 minutes.

What can be more frustrating than coming down with the flu but having to wait endless minutes at the doctors’? In the Czech Republic that is all too common an experience. Studies – including a recent survey conducted by the Czech medical website lékaři-online - suggest that endless waiting times, more than any other factor, top patients’ list of complaints. Pavel Hilbert, a manager at lékaři-online, told me more about the website’s study.

“We were interested in questions such as if patients are content with the services at their GPs; whether they are content with the attitude of doctors. If they think they are given enough information. And one of the problems is that normally patients have to wait for half an hour or an hour. Many would appreciate being able to make an appointment beforehand and visiting their doctor at a specified time.”

Now long waits, at least at some doctors, could be a thing of the past: the Czech Republic’s largest insurer VZP – which has more than six million clients – will launch a pilot programme in four of the country’s 14 regions in January - one which should make going to the doctor’s a far more pleasant experience. The VZP’s Anna Veverková:

“We have almost 6.5 million clients and one of the most common complaints is long waits at the doctors. We want to offer patients the possibility to make advance appointments and participating doctors should be able to keep waiting times to fifteen minutes. That is something we consulted with doctors themselves. But that’s not all. The broader idea behind the plan is also to improve communication and the sharing of information between GPs and specialists, to help, for example, in the proper issuing of prescriptions. There, too, patients should benefit.”

Reasons for doctors to participate should be not only better information and more effective communication but also financial incentives. But will the project have a positive effect? The insurer VZP certainly hopes so; it plans to broaden the project to all of the regions by 2011. Some - like lékaři-online’s Pavel Hilbert – certainly welcome the initiative: while conditions in health care have improved markedly in recent years, there’s no question some doctors remain stuck in the past.

“Going back to the socialist era, patients didn’t have any influence on doctors and services and hospitals. They had to wait for doctors and that was that. Some doctors may see little reason to change. If they don’t have any incentive, why should they change?”

The VZP’s Akord project will begin in the new year and all doctors participating in the project will display the Akord logo.