Health Council advice

The Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport has asked the Health Council to issue advice on:

• the current state of affairs regarding post-COVID,
• the similarities between post-COVID and other post-acute infection syndromes,
• the organization of care for these patients.

The Health Council invited Q-support, C-support and patient organisations for a discussion on this subject and to share their knowledge and experience in this area with them.

On Friday 29 November, Alfons Olde Loohuis and Lous Rijssenbeek provided an explanation to the Health Council about the role of Q-support and C-support:

• in the field of aftercare for patients,
• initiating and advising on research,
• organizing knowledge sharing and training of (healthcare) professionals.

In addition, they shared the latest state of affairs in the field of medical developments. On behalf of Q-support and C-support, they made a number of recommendations, including:

• Ensure long-term policy, a future-proof policy is very important for all PAIS patients.
• Recognition and acknowledgement of the disease by healthcare providers is essential, not only for post-COVID and Q fever but also for patients with other post-infectious conditions such as ME/CFS, Lyme and Post Sepsis Syndrome.
• Pay attention to all patients, including children, the elderly, people with a lower socio-economic status and people with a migration background, and the patients' housemates.
• Ensure that, in addition to attention to biomedical issues, attention is also paid to the impact on quality of life, on the mental and social level and on problems that arise in the areas of finances and work.
• Stepped Care: Provide the right care in the right place: Close by if possible (1^e line) and specialist care if necessary (2^e in 3. ^e line). In this way we ensure that more patients can be helped.
• A good connection with initiatives such as the Post COVID Network Netherlands is important. They disseminate the latest relevant knowledge to professionals and patients and contribute to the development of care pathways based on stepped care in the 1^e, 2^e in 3. ^e