Primary care is facing significant challenges: increasing demand for care, more complex patient populations, workforce shortages and regional differences in accessibility.
Sustainable solutions require knowledge that:
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- originates from clinical practice
- is scientifically substantiated
- can be applied across different regions
- aligns with national policy development
The Academic General Practice Living Lab provides a structural model to address these needs. They are not temporary projects, but a long-term form of collaboration that permanently connects practice, science and policy.
The Netherlands has seven regional Academic General Practice Living Labs. Each network is firmly embedded in its region and works according to a shared methodological framework.
Practice-driven question development
Issues arising from GP practices and regional networks form the starting point.
Joint knowledge development
Researchers, GPs and partners collaboratively develop research programmes and improvement initiatives.
Development and implementation
Specific products — such as measurement instruments, practical guidelines and improvement strategies — are developed and directly applied in practice. An example is the joint development of instruments, in which multiple networks collaborate on tools that can be widely implemented within primary care. New insights are also translated into curricula for training and continuing professional education.
Regional application, national strengthening
What is developed regionally is shared and further strengthened through national collaboration. For example, new knowledge developed within a region is shared beyond the region and used to strengthen education and training programmes in primary care.
The Academic General Practice Living Labs are spread across seven regions in the Netherlands. Each region has its own focus areas, partners and projects, while operating within the same overarching principles.
Each network connects GP practices, knowledge institutions and regional partners to develop and apply practice-oriented knowledge.
The regional networks collaborate within the National Collaboration of Academic General Practice Living Labs.
This national partnership:
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- promotes knowledge exchange between regions
- develops joint programmes
- strengthens the position of primary care knowledge in national policy
- ensures coherence in methodology and quality
- works toward structural funding for the Academic General Practice Living Lab
- explores and leverages new opportunities for further development
Through this national structure, a network emerges in which regional diversity and a shared strategic direction go hand in hand.
General Practitioners
For GPs and GP practices, the networks provide access to practice-relevant knowledge, opportunities to participate in research and support in quality development.
Researchers and educators
They will find an environment where research is directly connected to daily clinical practice.
Policymakers and healthcare organisations
The networks provide well-founded insights that contribute to both regional and national policy development.
