West German centre for general practice founded in Düsseldorf

The medical faculties in NRW founded the "NRW Competence Network for General Practice" back in 2012 with the aim of bringing the institutes and departments of general practice closer together. With the founding of the West German Centre for General Practice (WZA) in March 2025, this work is now being continued and a joint forward-looking platform is being established that brings together expertise from across NRW. In addition to the Witten/Herdecke University (UW/H), the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), the Rheinisch-Westfälisch Technical University Aachen (RWTH), the University of Bielefeld, the Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), the University of Bonn (UB), the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), the University of Cologne (UK) and the University of Münster (UMü) are involved. The initiative was preceded by joint talks with Ina Brandes, Minister for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, and Karl-Josef Laumann, Minister for Labour, Health and Social Affairs of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MAGS NRW).

The aim of the new centre will be to bundle the existing university structures of general practice research, education, training and continuing education and GP care in NRW. These five pillars form the basis for the co-operation of the WZA. A central component of the joint research is the established GP research practice network NRW (HAFO.NRW) with more than 350 GP practices that participate in studies on topics such as digitalisation and sustainability in GP practices in NRW. In addition, the WZA is seeking research collaborations with other departments and medical and non-medical institutions, such as the West German Centre for Child and Adolescent Health or the NRW Cancer Registry.

Advancing general practice in teaching

University training in general practice is also to be optimised by the WZA by formulating joint teaching content and promoting cross-location exchange in NRW. The same applies to further and advanced training, for which cooperation with the competence centres in North Rhine and Westphalia-Lippe, among others, is planned. In the future, the WZA will also offer its own training programmes.

Science Minister Brandes, who spoke directly to the guests present at the founding ceremony in a video message, expressed her optimism: "With the West German Centre for General Practice, the medical faculties in North Rhine-Westphalia are joining forces. This will make studying general practice more attractive for medical students and strengthen medical care by family doctors."

The management of the WZA is organised in the form of a rotating management structure that takes into account all nine university locations. The legal status of the individual locations remains unaffected by the establishment of the WZA; the universities continue to be sovereignly independent.

Further information: Press release from the University of Düsseldorf