Government offers bonus to help GPs hire support staff

From 1 September, general practitioners in Belgium will be able to apply to the medical insurance body Inami for funding to hire support staff for their practices.

A €16.7 million budget has been made available for this purpose, said Belgium’s vice prime minister and health minister, Frank Vandenbroucke.

The aim of this initiative is to give GPs greater room for manoeuvre and more time, by enabling them to delegate certain administrative tasks or simple medical procedures.

The main parties involved point out this is a long-awaited measure that has finally been implemented.

“It’s a good measure, but it’s not enough,” said Lawrence Cuvelier, president of doctors’ trade union the Groupement Belge des Omnipracticiens (GBO). “After all, it’s still very difficult for a single doctor to hire a support person initially.”

Doctors who apply will be eligible for a grant of between €5,000 and €7,500, depending on the number of applications, for the first recruitment of support staff.

The minister's office estimates that 4,872 individual and 605 group practices are eligible, with applications needing to be submitted between 1 September and 31 October 2024.

In addition, surgeries already employing staff will be able to claim an annual lump-sum payment of at least €3,796 to manage an administrative or a practice assistant with an open-ended employment contract, or a practice nurse, “as part of a permanent collaboration”.

Applications for this bonus can be submitted from 1 November to 31 December 2024.