The healthcare sector is under immense pressure due to staff shortages, ageing population and increasing healthcare demand and costs. This requires structural solutions. Digitalisation is often mentioned as one of the ways to make the sector future-proof, but realising the promise of digital care requires more than just technology.

Enabling digital care

Since its inception, Stichting Helpdesk Digitale Zorg (HDZ) has made an important contribution to making digital care accessible. Whether it concerns PGOs, patient portals, home monitoring or accessibility apps, the foundation offers low-threshold support to people who encounter technical or practical challenges when using them. This guidance makes patients feel more confident and helps them make optimal use of digital care. This reduces the workload for care providers, who would otherwise spend a lot of time on explanations and support. According to Merlijne Sonneveld, founder and director of HDZ, this is exactly where the added value lies. “Digitalization in care has a lot of potential, but only if people can handle it. Our helpdesk ensures that technology really works for patients and care providers.”

Digitalization as an answer to staff shortages

Digitalization offers an effective solution to the urgent staff shortages in healthcare. Home monitoring and artificial intelligence support caregivers by taking over routine work and enabling them to focus on more complex care tasks. The challenge? Not everyone is familiar with these technologies. HDZ plays an important role in this: patients and healthcare professionals rely on the helpdesk to overcome barriers and develop new skills.

Accessible care with better outcomes

In addition to reducing workload, digital care also offers opportunities to improve the quality of care: from faster diagnoses to better treatments. The helpdesk ensures that these benefits are actually experienced by all patients, including the many with limited digital skills. In this way, HDZ not only contributes to inclusive care, but also to broader acceptance and adoption of valuable innovations in the sector.

Remote care, closer to home

At a time when healthcare institutions and policymakers are looking for solutions to prevent a healthcare infarction, HDZ shows how practical support is the key to successful implementation of digital care. The foundation plays a major role in the transformation of the sector by supporting both patients and healthcare providers in primary, mental health, rehabilitation and hospital care. In this, they work together with local digital points, such as libraries, to serve the user as well as possible and in a customized way.

Sonneveld: “In 2030, we see a healthcare sector where technology is an integral part of every healthcare experience. By then, we will have helped millions of patients and healthcare professionals bridge the gap between people and technology. Together, we will ensure that innovation is inclusive and make remote care closer.”

Read the full article in the Future of Health publication from the Financieel Dagblad of December 20, 2024.