How good is collaboration between maternity service providers in the Netherlands?

IntroductionOver 310 000 women gave birth in Australia in 2016, with approximately 80 000 births in the state of Victoria. While most of these births occur in metropolitan Melbourne and other large regional centres, a significant proportion of Victorian women birth in local rural health services. The Victorian state government recently mandated the provision of a maternal and neonatal emergency training programme, called Maternal and Newborn Emergencies (MANE), to rural and regional maternity service providers across the state. MANE aims to educate maternity and newborn care clinicians about recognising and responding to clinical deterioration in an effort to improve clinical outcomes. This paper describes the protocol for an evaluation of the MANE programme.Methods and analysisThis study will evaluate the effectiveness of MANE in relation to: clinician confidence, skills and knowledge; changes in teamwork and collaboration; and consumer experience and satisfaction, and will explore and describe any governance changes within the organisations after MANE implementation. The Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model will provide a framework for the evaluation. The participants of MANE, 27 rural and regional Victorian health services ranging in size from approximately 20 to 1000 births per year, will be invited to participate. Baseline data will be collected from maternity service staff and consumers at each health service before MANE delivery, and at four time-points post-MANE delivery. There will be four components to data collection: a survey of maternity services staff; follow-up interviews with Maternity Managers at health services 4 months after MANE delivery; consumer feedback from all health services collected through the Victorian Healthcare Experience Survey; case studies with five regional or rural health service providers.Ethics and disseminationThis evaluation has been approved by the La Trobe University Science, Health and Engineering College Human Ethics Sub-Committee. Findings will be presented to project stakeholders in a deidentified report, and disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.

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Framing outcomes of post-diagnostic psychosocial interventions in dementia: the Adaptation-Coping Model and adjusting to change

Working with Older People ◽

10.1108/wwop-12-2016-0039 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

pp. 13-21 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Dawn Brooker ◽

Rose-Marie Dröes ◽

Shirley Evans

Keyword(s):

The Netherlands ◽

Focus Groups ◽

Local Community ◽

Service Providers ◽

Psychosocial Support ◽

Content Type ◽

People With Dementia ◽

English Speaking ◽

Coping Model ◽

The Uk

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe the Adaptation-Coping Model developed by Dröes in the Netherlands to frame the process of optimal adjustment for people diagnosed with dementia. This model is not well-known in English-speaking countries, but appears to have much to offer practitioners and researchers. As part of a large EU research project (MeetingDem) the authors translated and utilised this model in piloting the Dutch Meeting Centre Support Programme in the UK. This is a local community place-based approach to post-diagnostic psychosocial support. It is aimed at people diagnosed with dementia alongside their families and has proven benefits. Design/methodology/approach The Adaptation-Coping Model underpins the support provided by the Meeting Centre Programme. The model and its translation into the UK context are described. Focus groups were undertaken with people living with dementia (n=9) and family carers (n=6) at the UK Meeting Centre pilot. Examples from these focus groups are provided in order to illustrate different aspects of the model. Findings The translated Adaptation-Coping (adjusting to change) Model provides a way for service users (people with dementia and families) to conceptualise their journey with dementia post-diagnosis, and potentially provides service providers and researchers with aims for treatment and support. Research limitations/implications These are initial observations based on a UK pilot service. Originality/value Ways of conceptualising psychosocial support for people living with dementia often do not get translated between countries. This model has been successfully utilised within the Netherlands for many years. This paper highlights the opportunity to build on this in English-speaking countries.

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The privatisation debate on water services in the Netherlands: public performance of the water sector and the implications of market forces

Water Policy ◽

10.2166/wp.2006.0010 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 147-169 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Stefan M. Kuks

Keyword(s):

The Netherlands ◽

Political Ideology ◽

Service Providers ◽

Free Market ◽

Regulatory Regime ◽

Water Services ◽

Water Sector ◽

Public Performance ◽

Actual Performance ◽

The Public

Legally adopted in France and the UK, privatization of water services is still vigorously debated in the Netherlands. Advocates of privatization believe it is the best way to save on utility costs and to increase their transparency. Opponents believe that the Dutch water sector already provides high quality services for low prices, including an additional public performance that is expected to be excluded in a free market. The author argues that the performance of water service providers should not be assessed only in terms of efficiency, but in terms of the effects on the entire water system as well as the protection of small customers. It is quite possible that without privatization, a public agency could also improve its efficiency and become more competitive in relation to other service providers. Privatization seems to be more a matter of political ideology (based on a belief that the public sector operates inefficiently) than a matter of hard facts. The success of privatization depends at least on the performance of a complementary public regulatory regime. The question should not be whether the public or the private sector performs better hypothetically, but how the actual performance regarding public goods and services can be improved.

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Doing More Than Act: The Dutch Fact Model, Flexible Assertive Community Treatment

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.01.1765 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 33 (S1) ◽

pp. S481-S482

Author(s):

R. Keet

Keyword(s):

The Netherlands ◽

Assertive Community Treatment ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Service Providers ◽

Mental Illnesses ◽

Community Treatment ◽

Time Service ◽

Competing Interest ◽

The Uk ◽

Model Transition

Background/objectivesAssertive community treatment (ACT) has become the standard for integrated care for people with severe mental illnesses. Limitations of ACT are the lack of flexibility, the limited feasibility in rural areas, the limited population and the time-unlimited nature. These limitations can be overcome by flexible assertive community treatment (Flexible ACT), developed in the Netherlands and introduced in several European countries.MethodsThree studies were done between 2006 and 2015 on the results of the introduction of Flexible ACT, two in The Netherlands and one in the UK.ResultsThe outcomes in the Netherlands data show the effectiveness of Flexible ACT. Remission of schizophrenia increased form 19% to 31%. Bed use was reduced and quality of life increased. Effectiveness of FACT was also shown in the UK, where total patient time in hospital declined by half, even though the average time service providers spent with patients also declined. Collected data of the digitalized boards show that the board is used in accordance with the FACT model. Transition rate to primary care is 5–10% per year.Discussion/conclusionThe introduction of Flexible ACT has been shown to benefit patients with severe mental illness and indicate the ability of to allocate human resources in mental health care more efficiently. Introduction to other countries will be accompanied by research on the effectiveness and feasibility within other cultures.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his/her declaration of competing interest.

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Role of Psychiatrists in Memory Clinics

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.eurpsy.2017.01.173 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 41 (S1) ◽

pp. S37-S37

Author(s):

F. Verhey

Keyword(s):

The Netherlands ◽

Service Providers ◽

Care Facility ◽

Multidisciplinary Teams ◽

Term Care ◽

Long Term Care Facility ◽

People With Dementia ◽

Memory Clinics ◽

Competing Interest

Memory clinics (MCs) are multidisciplinary teams involved with early diagnosis and treatment of people with dementia. In this presentation, we will discuss several trends of the role of psychiatrists over the last twenty years, on the basis of five questionnaires that were sent to MCs every 5 years in the Netherlands.MCs have developed in Europe using a range of service models but providing similar functions, which include assessment, information, treatment monitoring, education, training and research. MCs may vary among each other, and across countries. Psychiatrists used to play a coordinating role in most MCs, but there is now a tendency that MCs are more frequently led by other specialists, notably neurologists. In 1998 in the Netherlands, only a small minority of the MCs had a structural cooperation with local service providers, but 10 years later, most of them were collaborating with other regional care organizations. In most cases, the collaborating partner was a community mental health team or a long-term care facility.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.

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Old Age and Caring Democracy

Whose Government is it? ◽

10.1332/policypress/9781529200980.003.0009 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 143-158

Author(s):

Marian Barnes

Keyword(s):

Social Justice ◽

The Netherlands ◽

Older People ◽

Old Age ◽

Service Providers ◽

Research Projects ◽

Generational Conflict ◽

Public Officials ◽

Residential Homes ◽

The World

Old age is an identity that many resists. It contributes to a sense of invisibility and, for some, it leaves them out of both time and place in the world. This chapter reviews examples of older people’s participation from England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Australia and Ireland. As well as ‘ageing activism’ within seniors’ forums and interest organisations, it explores participation in contexts not often regarded as ‘political’, such as within residential homes and in research projects. Such contexts can reflect the most immediate points of contact between older people and state services and policies that impact their lives. They can be a focus for transforming practices and ways in which public officials and service providers think about old age and old people. It is argued that ‘deliberating with care’ with older people not only offers transformative potential in relation to specific services and policies than can benefit us all as we grow older, but it can also counteract damaging inter-generational conflict, and enhance wellbeing and social justice.

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IDENTIFYING DOMINANT STAKEHOLDER PERSPECTIVES ON URBAN FREIGHT POLICIES: A Q-ANALYSIS ON URBAN CONSOLIDATION CENTRES IN THE NETHERLANDS

Transport ◽

10.3846/16484142.2017.1350996 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 33 (4) ◽

pp. 867-880 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Ron van Duin ◽

Marijn Slabbekoorn ◽

Lori Tavasszy ◽

Hans Quak

Keyword(s):

The Netherlands ◽

Q Methodology ◽

Service Providers ◽

Freight Transport ◽

Public And Private ◽

Urban Freight ◽

Stakeholder Perspectives ◽

Promising Tool ◽

Urban Freight Transport ◽

Freight Consolidation

Cities’ sustainability strategies seem to aim at the reduction of the negative impacts of urban freight transport. In the past decades, many public and private initiatives have struggled to gain broad stakeholder support and thus remain viable. Researchers and practitioners have only recently recognised stakeholder acceptance of urban freight solutions as a challenge. A first step in achieving convergence is to understand stakeholder needs, preferences and viewpoints. This paper proposes and applies an approach to identify the main stakeholder perspectives in the domain of urban freight transport. We use Q-methodology, which originates from social sciences and psychology, to record subjective positions and identify the dominant ones. We explain the approach, operationalise the method for the domain of urban freight transport and apply it to stakeholder groups in the Netherlands. We find four dominant perspectives, reflecting how stakeholders normally take positions in the urban freight dialogue. Important findings concern disparities between industry associations and some of their membership, divergent views about the expected role of public administration, and the observation that the behaviour of shippers and Logistics Service Providers (LSP) appears to be inconsistent with their beliefs. All these factors together can act as a barrier to the implementation of urban freight consolidation concepts. The Q-methodology is valuable for eliciting perspectives in urban freight and is a promising tool to facilitate stakeholder dialogue and, eventually, convergence.

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