The GGD Drenthe fears several financial blows due to the government’s announced cuts in healthcare and the approaching ‘ravine year’ for municipalities. In a letter to Drenthe municipalities, the GGD warns of the consequences in 2026.
“Not everything we do now is possible anymore,” GGD Drenthe writes in the letter. The service will therefore have to ‘focus’ and adjust the budget accordingly.
The GGD Drenthe therefore wants to return a number of tasks for which there may soon be no money left. These are additional tasks. The GGD budget shows that this could include programs that relate, for example, to encouraging healthy food among children and young people. According to the GGD, it is not inconceivable that some of these programs will disappear completely.
“We cannot yet say exactly what this is about. In the spring we will talk to each other and with municipalities to make an analysis. Preparing for this now will only lead to unrest,” said a spokesperson for GGD Drenthe.
Every year, GGD Drenthe receives approximately 30 million euros from the Drenthe municipalities. On top of that, money comes from The Hague. The GGD must, among other things, maintain vaccination programs, it has an important role in providing information about (mental) health and it is the appropriate party in combating infectious diseases and STDs. Consultations and school doctors also fall under the GGD. The GGD is legally obliged to carry out most of these tasks.
At the time of the corona pandemic and also in the years that followed, the previous government decided to invest heavily in the GGD. “It became clear that we were insufficiently prepared for such large outbreaks,” writes the GGD Drenthe. Now that the government is going to cut back on this, the umbrella organization GGD GHOR is concerned. “We don’t have to deal with it every day, but it limits our preparedness for outbreaks of infectious diseases. This means that we are no longer ready for a pandemic. Our resilience decreases,” says Kim Roetert of GGD GHOR.
The money that the government previously invested was partly intended to better combat infectious diseases. The other part was for making the population healthier and more resilient.
The GGD Drenthe calls the fact that the current cabinet is returning to these investments ‘a worrying development that is putting financial pressure on the GGDs’. The GGD will look for almost a million euros within its own organization. She also appeals to Drenthe municipalities. The GGD Drenthe wants to take on a number of tasks regionally. Which ones they are will be investigated in the coming months.