Will innovation solve the problem of staff shortages in Health and Social Care?

CATCH Professor, Luc de Witte, contributes to an article about Healthcare Innovation and Technology published in the Dutch newspaper FD.

The title of the article was “Gaat innovatie het personeelstekort in de zord oplossen?” which translates to “Will innovation solve the problem of staff shortages in Health and Social Care?”

Professor de Witte’s key message is that technology-supported innovations in health and social care should not start from a need to make care more efficient, save costs or increase productivity, but from a need to improve the quality of care, the quality of the work of professionals, and the quality of life of clients/patients. If you start from there, efficiency and cost-effectiveness will follow, but that should not be the starting point.

Even stronger: the article argued that the fact that saving money is often the first criterion, it is one of the main reasons why so little has been achieved in this field the past 15 years, because innovations are being ‘killed’ before they really come to fruition.

Please find the newspaper here.