The Netherlands is regarded as having one of the best systems for elderly care in the world, but it faces many challenges including an increasingly ageing population. Restricted by a severe shortage of care workers the Dutch have come up with innovative solutions, as Hans von der Brelie found out.
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00:00The Netherlands have one of the best care systems in the world, but that costs.
00:05The Netherlands spend more money on care than other industrial states.
00:09Nevertheless, tens of thousands of care workers are missing.
00:13Society is facing huge challenges, because the number of seniors is growing rapidly.
00:19Yes, and how does society deal with it?
00:21I'll take a look around here on site for your news witness in the Netherlands.
00:31Wurtsorg is one of the largest care services in the Netherlands.
00:35In German, it's called Neighborhood Assistance.
00:37In the Amsterdam suburb of Jordaan, I made an appointment with Leonie.
00:42The caretaker takes care of seniors who want to spend their evening at home.
00:48Because of the lack of costs, explosions and skilled workers,
00:51the Dutch care system has been a permanent construction site since 2006.
00:55It is constantly being reformed and new things are being tested.
00:58Leonie, Wurtsorg.
01:29Efficient small teams, completely without a manager.
01:34That's 30% cheaper.
01:37That's why the concept is now being copied worldwide.
01:40Five carers founded Wurtsorg in 2007.
01:43Today, 15,000 employees work there in around 1,000 teams.
01:48A visit to Gerrit, the bladder catheter, has to be changed.
01:52But Leonie also takes time for a conversation with the former pub owner.
01:57What do you enjoy now? What is still quality for you?
02:01I like it in my house.
02:03First of all, my house and my children.
02:06And my daughter. My daughter is a real daddy's girl.
02:10Crazy with her mother too, of course.
02:12If you hear that, yes, honey, yes, sweetheart, tell me.
02:15Then my daughter comes and lays such a babel.
02:17She also says, I don't want you to die.
02:20I say, if you die, just die.
02:23We all died once.
02:25Yes, I enjoy it.
02:27I hope to go to Stamford in a few weeks, next month.
02:31Then I plan to go on a four-wheel scooter.
02:38So?
02:39So we can go to the beach.
02:41Gerrit still has broad shoulders.
02:44That comes from boxing.
02:46In 1954 and 1956 he became Dutch vice-champion in lightweight.
02:51Gerrit's wife Gerda is also recruited by Leonie.
02:55Well, they are friendly.
02:57And they also talk to me, for example.
03:02So it is very important.
03:05At home you have people around you.
03:07In the hospital it is always a bit sad.
03:11It's not nice.
03:13In Brandevoort, the municipality of Helmond, I discover the secret number two of the Dutch care system success.
03:21Networking.
03:22Marie-José and IED are part of an innovative concept called the Pre-Care Care Circle.
03:29Today they get medicine in the pharmacy for neighbour Marta.
03:33The small town is covered with a dense network of care circle groups.
03:40Municipalities and insurances support the concept.
03:43Because it relieves care and social services.
03:46Toon is the initiator of the Pre-Care Care Circle here in the new development area.
03:51Today it is just the practical things where people are ready for each other.
03:56Can you help me with putting the bed together?
03:59Can you help me with mowing the grass?
04:01And that will be over in a few years.
04:03Then the care issues will come up on their own.
04:06Now it is mainly the vital elderly.
04:09But the vital ones will also come into the group.
04:12People who need help and care.
04:15It is very important that people get to know each other well.
04:18Because then you are inclined to ask a question to someone.
04:21Because you are not going to put your care on the table with a stranger.
04:24The connector gets the question from the group.
04:28And then we will see who can fill in the question best.
04:34We first look at who lives closest to us.
04:38Who can do it.
04:40Who wants it.
04:42My social contacts were actually gone after we first had corona.
04:48And just after corona my husband got sick.
04:51And he got dementia.
04:53And the world I lived in became very small.
04:56And then Yt and Marie-José were gone.
05:02And then it became known that I sang at a choir.
05:05But because of circumstances I had not been to the choir for four years.
05:09Because I could not leave Rien alone.
05:12And then Yt said, then I will come on Thursday evening.
05:16If you have a choir rehearsal, I will come and talk to Rien.
05:20And then you can go to the choir rehearsal.
05:23It was really enjoyable.
05:25They helped me a lot with that.
05:28The third stop of my journey is the village of Dordewaert.
05:31Here telemedicine helps with care.
05:34I visit Johann Rasbeek.
05:37At the game of his favorite team, AFC Ajax, he had a heart attack in the stadium.
05:43Nevertheless, he can sleep well again today.
05:46His heart rate monitor constantly sends data to the hospital.
05:49The patients get the transmission technology free of charge.
05:54Johann's wife Gerda also finds the system good.
05:58Johann measures his blood pressure himself every day and notes the result in an app.
06:03At the other end, sister Kim wakes up with her team about Johann and 600 other heart patients at home.
06:09The technology saves costs and the patients save time.
06:13Hi Kim.
06:17The most important thing is that you have to go to the hospital less often.
06:22And still the feeling of safety.
06:26And of course also self-control.
06:46Finally, a detour to Hilversum to the innovative living community Levin.
06:51150 people live here, mixed up.
06:54Mainly seniors, but also some students.
06:57Rich pensioners, but also seniors with social assistance.
07:01Sick and healthy, with or without wheelchair.
07:05Scrabble champion Lonne exchanged her house for an apartment in the LIV-Inn.
07:10I went backwards with walking.
07:12And I couldn't get up the stairs anymore.
07:15Before I was outside with my wheelchair.
07:17Half an hour further.
07:19Then I saw this.
07:21And then I thought, I have to be there.
07:23Lydia was married to a car mechanic.
07:26And worked as a cashier, ice cream seller, then in a toy store and on a campsite in France.
07:33Here in the LIV-Inn, she pays two-thirds less rent than before thanks to housing assistance.
07:40Why did you decide to move in here?
07:44In the previous house I had fewer contacts than here.
07:48I do a lot more here.
07:50I am more volunteer here.
07:52And I do a lot more for the people than in my previous house.
07:57The former truck driver Radon also helps where he can.
08:00Today he repairs small wooden gates for a board game.
08:03Participation, self-organization, solidarity.
08:06This is valued in the LIV-Inn.
08:08The concept also helps to alleviate the crisis on the housing market.
08:12We live in a big house.
08:14We don't need all those rooms anymore.
08:16Especially the work space.
08:18Because I always had a lot of work at home.
08:20And I had the same space as here.
08:22But that was on the attic.
08:24And that has taken over me.
08:27And also the pub and the coziness.
08:31In the hobby kitchen, Radon's wife Edith prepares snacks.
08:35Time for a few numbers.
08:37In 2040, double the number of seniors in the Netherlands will be empty than in 2020.
08:41The social company Habion manages 12,000 apartments.
08:45Manager Beurin Fien explains the concept.
08:48When we asked the elderly, what do you need to get old?
08:51They said, we don't want to be in a huge concentration with elderly.
08:56We want some vital people, we want some young people.
08:59The idea for us was, when you mix people, they get old together.
09:04About 10% of the apartments are given to young people.
09:07Marieke is 30 and works for a toy manufacturer.
09:11She lives here with her boyfriend, an inlander.
09:16At the beginning of the weekend, my boyfriend and I sit down.
09:20We have a drink with the elderly.
09:23Just socialize.
09:25Just start the weekend with each other.
09:28You laugh with each other.
09:30It's just super fun.
09:35In search of innovative care concepts,
09:38experts from all over the world travel to the Netherlands.
09:41Often the answers are quite simple.
09:43Fewer managers.
09:45Better networking.
09:46Modern technology.
09:47And live and laugh with each other.