Summary
General medicine in the Netherlands is under pressure. How long will the currently provided health care remain sustainable? In the future, things will only get worse. With an increasingly ageing population, insufficient numbers of care professionals and costs that are too high. The concept of Positive Health facilitates taking a different look at disease and health. It leads to holding alternative conversations with patients, in a way that is more solution-oriented and stimulates self-management. Positive Health focuses on meaningfulness rather than on today’s more dominant medical-analytical approach to patients. The concept offers a solution for things that are currently stagnating in health care in the Netherlands. With more attention being paid to lifestyle, leading a meaningful life, and citizen initiatives that promote community outreach and self-reliance as important elements in the application of Positive Health in general practice.