Thousands of patients are still waiting to be registered with a new family doctor three months after medical practice chain Co-Med was declared bankrupt.

Co-Med closed its 13 practices across the country after a court in Maastricht declared bankruptcy in July, two weeks after the four main health insurers in the Netherlands cancelled their contracts in response to complaints about the standard of healthcare.

More than 50,000 people were left without a family doctor as a result of the decision. Some local councils, such as The Hague, have arranged for people to be registered with new GPs, but many others have redirected patients to the online medical service Arene.

Patients have also reported problems when trying to access hospital care because they have no registered family doctor, which also means no point of contact for surgeons and other specialists.

Grietje Hof, from Enschede, who relies on a wheelchair, told NRC she was only able to get treatment in urgent cases since Co-Med closed its practice in the city. For other symptoms she relies on a neighbour who works as a physiotherapist.

Perone Cobben, 60, from Breda, who suffers from asthma and emphysema, was referred to digital service Thuisdok. She said she struggled with her symptoms for six weeks before managing to get an appointment with a local GP.

“This sort of hassle makes you want to put off going to the doctor,” she said. She added she was using inhalers sparingly because she was unsure if she could get a repeat prescription.

Records “a mess”

Arjen Zwaan, a spokeman for health insurer CZ, admitted it was taking longer than expected to find new family doctors for former Co-Med patients, partly because the company’s medical records were “a mess”.

Zwaan told NRC that the biggest problems were in Enschede and Bergen op Zoom, where the loss of Co-Med’s practice came on top of a shortage of qualified doctors. As a result patients were unable to find a new GP.

“Until that time we have alternatives such as walk-in clinics or digital healthcare, even though that is not what we have in mind for the long term.”