Rahmenbedingungen der Primärversorgung in Deutschland, Norwegen, Großbritannien, den Niederlanden und Italien – eine Übersicht

Health care systems and with them the design of primary care differ considerably in the individual European countries. The aim of this article is to provide a comparative description of the framework conditions of primary care in Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, and Norway.

The comparison is primarily based on the Commonwealth Fund’s International Health Care System Profiles from 2020, supplemented by published analyses of individual countries, international surveys and comparisons, and published reports from general practitioners (GPs) about working in other countries.

Measured in terms of gross national product, Germany has the highest health care expenditure, the number of hospital beds is by far the highest, and at the same time the length of stay is comparatively long. The immediate framework conditions for primary care differ significantly between the individual countries in many respects, e.g., with regard to the gatekeeper function, the remuneration system, the practice size, and the team composition. International surveys show that the average weekly working hours and the number of patient contacts are by far the highest in Germany. Job satisfaction is lower in Germany and currently in the UK than in the other countries.

Our comparison illustrates the partly massive differences in the countries considered. Several indicators suggest that the framework conditions of primary care in Germany are not particularly favorable in an international comparison, despite the overall high health care expenditure.