Care Institute advocates amending Long-Term Care Act and pushes for collaborative care

The Long-Term Care Act in its current form impedes cooperation between professional care providers and the informal care provided by, for example, informal caregivers. In the 'Signalement Passende langdurige zorg - van zelfredzaam naar samenredzaam' (Appropriate long-term care - from self-reliant to self-reliant), the Care Institute argues for amending the laws and regulations to remove these obstacles. Only then will local communities where people help each other get more room to take up requests for help, in a way that suits the personal situation of the person who needs care.

Within such a community, people are 'co-reliant' and together they can solve requests for help, thus reducing or delaying the need for professional care. Professional care then remains available for people who really need it. The report provides directions for solutions to relieve the strain on long-term care in a way that leaves no one behind.

Long-term care is for elderly people, people with disabilities and people with mental illnesses who need permanent 24-hour care or support. This group of people is growing and needs longer care from the Long-Term Care Act (LTC), while there are fewer people to do the job. At the same time, new forms of collaboration between health professionals, volunteers and informal caregivers are emerging within the current care structure to provide care for the growing group of vulnerable people.

"In order to accelerate appropriate care, it is important to approach care differently," said Karin Timm, director of Zorginstituut Nederland. "We advocate shifting the emphasis from the individual and self-reliance to co-reliance and looking out for each other. Organizing care differently should support this."

Equal cooperation involves solving requests for help together. The informal network - such as informal caregivers, neighbors and volunteers, the person in need of care and the care professional enter into discussion and make agreements about providing help. Professional care is not the first solution, but a supplement to care and support provided by the network. The control lies with the person who needs care and support or with the direct relatives.

Locally and regionally, there are many examples of caring communities working successfully in this way. To emulate this nationally, the Wlz needs to be amended. Consider, for example, including the social context in the indication for the Wlz and making it possible to finance care in other ways. Currently, the Wlz excludes care from other domains - the Health Insurance Act (Zvw) and Social Support Act (Wmo) - and that stands in the way of appropriate solutions.

The advisory report is an important addition to ongoing initiatives to enable appropriate long-term care, such as the Generic Compass - working together on quality of life, the Quality Compass for Care for the Disabled 2023-2028 and the Quality Framework for Residential Care in the Long-Term Mental Health Care Sector. For the report, the Care Institute held substantive discussions with various experts and parties who play a role in long-term care and support, both inside and outside the care sector. The report proposes three possible solutions: adjusting the care system, equal cooperation between professional and informal care and stimulating local initiatives for cross-domain cooperation and healthy communities. The parties involved are working out the solution directions. The Care Institute is cooperating with them in this and monitoring progress.

Everyone who lives or works in the Netherlands is required to have health insurance. Zorginstituut Nederland is a government organization whose main task is to compile the basic health insurance package. In doing so, complicated but necessary choices are made to ensure that everyone in the Netherlands can get good care. Now and in the future.