4. Positive Health and the core values of Dutch primary care

This chapter deals with the relationship of Positive Health with the recently established core values of primary care in the Netherlands and the options general practitioners have for fulfilling their task. The described trends in primary care, from our perspective, can be summarised in two main developments that influence the content of general practitioner work and patient contact. The first development concerns changes in the continuity of primary care, with less personal contact with the same general practitioner, but the care is more person-oriented. The second concerns the primary care workload, which has undeniably increased. This chapter also discusses the contribution of Positive Health to the identified trends and the core values of primary care (person-oriented, medical generalist, continuous and together).