Third of Dutch patients dissatisfied with home care

A third of Dutch people who received care and support at home in 2015, find that the care was inadequate, according to a study done by social and cultural planning office SCP, NOS reports.

Just under 2 million people over the age of 18 received home care in 2015. About 670 thousand of them say they needed more care than they received.

Another 400 thousand people did not receive home care, but say the needed it. According to SCP researcher Debbie Verbeek, that does not mean they actually asked for home care. There could be several reasons not to ask for care, ranging from finding the process too complicated to not believing that anything would come from it. 

In 2015 the Dutch municipality took over responsibility for more care tasks. The SCP compared the figures for that year to the figures for 2014, when those tasks were still the responsibility of the national government. 

Since the municipalities took over with the Social Support Act, the idea was that more of the home care would come from family and friends, instead of paid services. But the SCP found that people actually got less support through their networks of friends and family in 2015 than they did in 2014.

But according to the SCP, it is still to early to draw any conclusions - not all care by friends and family was actually registered. And transitioning to a new system always takes some time.