Sara Biere-Rafi is a GP with a PhD and a medical advisor at C-support. In addition to her work with patients, she and her colleagues are committed to improving care for patients with post-COVID. To this end, she calls on behalf of C-support for the establishment of centers of expertise; a number of places in the country where knowledge and experience in the field of post-COVID are bundled, where efficient, customized care pathways become available and where patients are involved in scientific research.
In addition, she is working with other organisations, including the NFU (Netherlands Federation of University Medical Centres), the FMS (Federation of Medical Specialists) and the NHG (Netherlands College of General Practitioners) on a knowledge agenda. The central question is which national and international research is ongoing and which knowledge gaps in the field of post-COVID still need to be answered. The assignment for this knowledge agenda was recently given to ZonMW by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.
Knowledge agenda
Sara: “The knowledge agenda will provide an overview of all (missing) knowledge about post-COVID later this year. All national and international research will be brought together and analyzed in this. This will make it clearer what knowledge is already available. This knowledge can then be implemented in the guidelines for healthcare professionals. But also answer the question of what additional research is needed. For example, specific biomedical research into one of the assumed hypotheses as the cause of post-COVID and hopefully ultimately also more research into treatments.”
Minister Kuipers also recently announced European cooperation. The European Commission has made 50 million available to set up a European network for research into the consequences and treatment of post-COVID. “By working together and complementing each other, less time is lost in getting answers to questions such as how to diagnose post-COVID, or how to treat the disease,” the minister said.
Expertise centre becomes expertise network
This knowledge is also important for the centres of expertise that C-support has been advocating for some time now. “In the case of a new disease, an intensive interaction between care and scientific research is of great importance. By organising all current knowledge and expertise in centres of expertise, the available care can be improved immediately. A structured platform for scientific research can also be created in the centres of expertise. And in addition to the more supportive, standard care, new treatments can also take place within the framework of scientific research.”
On March 14, a working meeting at the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport with the aforementioned parties led to a decision to establish an Expertise Network. A network of a number of academic hospitals where research takes place and a number of peripheral (regional) hospitals where patient care takes place. This care must be effective, efficient and multidisciplinary. What makes it a bit more difficult is that the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport only has responsibility for the academic hospitals. The peripheral hospitals fall under the health insurers, who will therefore become an important player in this new set-up.
C-support is and will remain actively involved in setting up the expertise network. We advise on how care should be organised and are working on a pilot of collaboration between an academic and peripheral hospital. The expectation is that the network will be established in the autumn.
