With its particularly sparse and ageing population, the federal Land of Brandenburg is facing acute pressure on its healthcare system. 

Host Country : Germany

Place and date : 15. - 16.6.2009

Peer countries : Finland - France - Greece - Ireland - Portugal - Romania - Slovenia - United Kingdom

Stakeholders : CPME, CEMR

To address this challenge, a project known as "Gemeindeschwester-Modell" has been launched, under which "community nurses" work to relieve general practitioners by carrying out home-visits to patients who have already been diagnosed in order to help with their medical treatment. 

The project relies heavily on ICT systems to ensure close links and mutual feed-back between GPs and the community nurses. 

The first results of the project are positive and indicate a high acceptance of the concept of community nursing of this kind among participating GPs, nurses and patients. In particular, the use of ICT has shown itself to be an innovative and cost-effective approach to ensuring high-quality primary care in areas with ageing and declining populations. 

With the population ageing throughout the EU rapidly, the German experience is particularly relevant and the Peer Review provides an opportunity both to inform other Member States of the policy and to discuss the broader question of how primary medical care can be improved in rural areas through more flexible approaches.

Peer Review manager

Ms Monika Natter (ÖSB Consulting GmbH)