Number of Dutch with dementia to increase over 66% by 2040

The number of Netherlands residents with dementia will increase significantly in the coming years, as will the need for informal carers to look after them. Employers are going to need to become a whole lot more flexible, the Telegraaf reports from the Dementia Monitor by Alzheimer Nederland and Nivel.

Currently, about 300,000 people in the Netherlands have dementia and 800,000 informal caregivers are caring for them. Due to the aging population, that is expected to increase to 500,000 people with dementia, needing 1.3 million informal carers.

“This is becoming a major problem because due to the impoverishment of regular care, many informal caregivers will have to combine this with a job. This is difficult because someone with dementia ultimately requires 24/7 care,” Gerjoke Wilmink, director of Alzheimer Nederland told the newspaper.

71 percent of informal caregivers of people with dementia already struggle to combine care and daily activities, the Monitor showed. Employers are going to need to become more flexible about this demand on their employees because the Netherlands already has widespread staff shortages and cannot afford to lose more workers.

“Working caregivers work an average of 12 hours less, according to the monitor. It is, therefore, important to recognize dementia in a partner, family member, or acquaintance at an early stage and to make this known to the employer so that a solution can be found.”

The Telegraaf spoke to Ton den Iseger, a 69-year-old Rijksmuseum employee who cares for his wife, Loes (67). “I have been incredibly lucky at work My wife has dementia and cannot be alone. For me, this means I have to be with her 24/7. But because I still work 16 hours a week, this is not always possible. Normally, you would say, then you finally have to stop. But the Rijksmuseum did not want to know anything about that.”

Ton can bring Loes to work with him. “I can also do a lot of work from home, but all my colleagues know my situation. When they see me walking alone in the museum, they always ask: ‘Hey, where’s Loes?’ It couldn’t be better.”

Raymond de Jong, head of personnel at the Rijksmuseum, is happy they could find this accommodation with Ton and Loes. “As a caregiver, you have to be incredibly self-reliant and as an employer, you can play an important role in this. Not by creating a standard policy, but by looking at each case individually. We always ask ourselves one question: Why is something impossible? And then you see that there is a solution for almost every problem.”