Thousands of family doctors are stopping work between 10.00 and 13.00 on Thursday in protest at government plans to cut their budgets next year.

The cuts are in the form of a €74m claw-back because of overspending in 2011. The doctors say the total bill will be nearer €98m.
The national family doctors’ association is planning to go to court to fight the reduction in the budget.
Hospitals
Meanwhile, hospitals are concerned that their workloads will increase because of the dispute between family doctors and health minister Edith Schippers, Trouw reports.
As part of their protest, doctors have threatened to refer more cases to hospital rather than treat them themselves.
‘This will lead to an undesirable demand for care from hospitals,’ Roelf de Boer, chairman of the hospital association NVZ has said in a letter to the minister.
If doctors carry out their threat, it could lead to hospitals breaking their agreement with the minister not to increase the volume of treatments carried out by more than 2.5%, the letter said.
Parliament is debating Schippers’ plans later on Thursday.