Finally, the feeling of Swiss Life – Joop is buried

With current knowledge and science about the consequences of population aging and shortages in the healthcare labor market, it is now certain that carefree aging is a thing of the past for all current and future retirees. Presumably few citizens are aware of this. This is partly due to the fact that they have not yet encountered the well-known problems of hospice care. The shortage of nursing homes can no longer be resolved due to the large shortage of care workers.

All informal caregivers know that they are called upon to the utmost, even at the risk of burnout, to be able to help their partners and family members who need intensive care. To be able to ensure more or less humane care for their loved ones, while waiting for support from a nursing home professional.

The current situation can already be described as dire and with the Cabinet’s decision not to increase the number of nursing homes due to a structurally increasing shortage of healthcare workers, it can already be predicted that the situation will only get worse in the future.

The government hopes to innovate to make up for the shortage of healthcare workers. The question is whether this can provide sufficient solace, and it is remarkable that the experts in hospice care and Minister Helder also use the word innovation with some audible despair and skepticism in their voices. Knowing that technology, for example, will never be able to change a person in a human way. As in patients with enuresis problem.

The data on aging in the Netherlands speak for themselves. Society will have to make far-reaching choices in elderly care and the fact that many seniors cannot rely on their children or family members as informal caregivers if they do not live geographically nearby. Or you just don’t want to or can’t.

As a result of decades of a dominant focus on individualism, rather than solidarity as the basis of our society, it is already certain that we will notice all the disadvantages of those years of individualism in the decades to come. You don’t just flip the button on selfish, individualistic thinking and acting.

In poor countries, every well-to-do tourist can see and observe how different families treat each other when it comes to the welfare of relatives. Particularly remarkable is the respect in the way the younger generations treat their elders.

In the Netherlands, in 2022, we will have come to a situation with the elderly that as you get older as a pensioner and need more professional care, you get a less-than-rosy perspective. The focus is primarily on self-reliance in the home with informal carers as support. 24/7 professional care dedicated to the most difficult category of patients. With a bit of bad luck, you can now be put on a waiting list as a terminal patient before you’re able to say a gracious goodbye to hospice life.