Heroes Not Zombies

Did you catch this news story about community nursing in the Netherlands recently? Click through to the BBC site to read the details.

There’s been a revolution in community nursing in the Netherlands in recent years. The company, Buurtzorg, set up six years ago, began with 100 nurses, and now has 6500 of them working in teams of 10, each team covering a neighbourhood of 10,000 people. That means that 60% of the community nurses in the Netherlands are now working for this company.

What’s so radical about what they do?

The completely human-centred, humane practice of nursing delivered with a high degree of personal autonomy by the nurses (there are no managers managing their case loads), emphasising continuity of care (reducing both the number of home visits required AND the number of different people visiting individual patients), and the focus on enabling both personal and community empowerment (they involve relatives, volunteers and friends in supporting the vulnerable elderly at home).

The company also runs a local radio show in Amsterdam (Radio Steunkous – which translates as radio “support-stocking”) which  “offers health advice, provides information on local services, and puts people in touch with each other.”

Instead of breaking down a patient’s life into “needs” which are then addressed by separate “tasks” delivered by a large number of different people, the nurse-patient relationship becomes the holistic centre of the care.

I love that this delivers quality care, more continuous care, and fosters independence and community, but I was also really taken by the comments of the nurses themselves –

“What we want to show is that if you have the autonomy, if you develop your skills and craftsmanship, then it’s the most beautiful job you can find.”