The Personal Doctor regulation and its implementation in the Health Center of Neos Kosmos

The Personal Doctor and his special contribution to the operation of Primary Health Care (PHC) was very early noticed worldwide. In most European countries, health care models have been implemented and operated effectively, based on the Personal Doctor who has a health advisor function, directing the patient to specialists or to hospital care. In Greece, the regulation in question constitutes a challenge. Even since 1983, the date of establishment of the National Health System (ESY), many multiple legislative efforts have been made, but none so far has been implemented fully, organized, and in a consistent way. The current attempted reform under Law 4931/2022 hopes to amend all these nonfulfillments and aims at establishing the Personal Doctor and reinforcing PHC. The aim of this article is to substantiate by means of bibliographic reviews the necessity and the significance of the Personal Doctor regulation in Greece and to present a realistic implementation plan in the Health Center of Neos Kosmos. This plan was created by following the 7 basic planning steps, considering the results of a typical SWOT Analysis. This analysis identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the Health Center of Neos Kosmos, as well as the opportunities and threats which have emerged from the analysis of its external environment. This article comprehensively emphasizes the need of implementation of this regulation in Greece, a difficult and demanding endeavor, the success of which will be ensured only and if only the necessary prerequisites are created- the most significant of which is the continuity in the shaping of health policies and the common political will.

Keywords: personal doctor, primary healthcare, swot analysis