News item | 06-07-2022 | 16:10
Good palliative care can improve the quality of life for people who are no longer getting better. That is why Minister for Long-term Care and Sport Conny Helder is strengthening palliative care and spiritual care at home. Between 2022 and 2027, a total of €150 million will be made available to increase awareness of palliative care and improve the quality and accessibility of palliative care. Minister Helder writes this to the House of Representatives.
Minister Helder: “There is still a taboo on the last phase of life. We must break that taboo, so that wishes in the last phase of life can be discussed. Only then can we provide good palliative care. I think it is very important that we in the Netherlands enter into a dialogue about this, because palliative care is not only about death, but also about life and how you want to lead it.”
In addition to regular care, people who no longer have a prospect of a cure also need good palliative care. Palliative care provides support for physical, psychological, social and spiritual problems, with the aim of improving the quality of life. Early deployment of palliative care can have a positive effect on patients’ lives, sometimes taking months or years, depending on the progression of the disease process.
It is expected that more and more people will need palliative care in the coming years. In 2020, approximately 169,000 people have died. Of these, an estimated 106,000 people have undergone a disease trajectory prior to death, where palliative care may have been appropriate. That number is expected to increase further in the coming years. After all, due to the aging population and an increase in people with a chronic illness, there will be more people in the coming years who go through a disease trajectory prior to death. They may benefit from palliative care.
National Palliative Care Program II
Minister Helder has now given the go-ahead for the National Palliative Care Program II. Under the direction of Palliative Care Netherlands, the program will, among other things, work on better collaboration between expertise centers on palliative care, strengthen digital data exchange and monitor the quality of palliative care provided.
The program will also launch a national awareness campaign. The aim of the campaign is that the discussion about palliative care with relatives and the care provider is conducted in a timely manner. Studies show that early identification of the last phase of life and the use of palliative care has a positive effect on the quality of life of patients. It leads to fewer hospital admissions, less overtreatment and patients more often die in the place of their preference. The campaign will also provide easy-to-find public information about palliative care. A total of 55 million euros is available for the National Palliative Care II Program.
Reinforcement of volunteers
Palliative care is about much more than just medical care. That is why it is so important that there are so many volunteers working in palliative (terminal) care. Currently, approximately 12,000 volunteers provide care and support to the terminally ill and their caregivers, at home, in hospices and sometimes also in care facilities. Minister Helder is making 32 million euros available for the ‘Palliative terminal care and mental care at home’ scheme. With this intensification of the subsidy scheme, more volunteers can be trained, the demand for volunteers can be mapped and an action plan can be drawn up for the deployment of volunteers in the future. The scheme runs through 2026.
Spiritual care at home
Spiritual care at home is available for palliative patients and their loved ones, but also for anyone aged 50 and older with a life need. You can talk (confidentially) with a spiritual counselor about major life events, for example if you are told that you are terminally ill or because you have to say goodbye to a friend. With the extra impulse of a total of 14 million euros, Minister Helder wants to further stimulate spiritual care at home.