Results: Dignity and Pride on Location

Over a five-year period (2018 – 2023), 516 nursing homes were able to improve their quality of care with support from the programme, Dignity and Pride on Location. This is among the findings of the programme’s final report. ‘Dignity and Pride on Location’ supported nursing homes in implementing the Nursing Home Care Quality Framework. The themes ‘Learning and Improvement’ and ‘Safety’ achieved the biggest results.

The programme ‘Dignity and Pride on Location’ was part of the broader programme ‘At Home in the Nursing Home’, with which the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) aimed to initiate the movement towards further improvement of nursing home care. With this, VWS wanted to ensure sufficient time, attention and good care for residents.

• View all the results from the programme in the ‘Final Report Dignity and Pride on Location’

Ready for the future

One of the organisations that participated in the support programme ‘Dignity and Pride on Location’ is Zorggroep Charim. ‘We mainly worked on continuous learning and development,’ says Judith Poulos, chairman of the Executive Board. ‘Learning is necessary to be ready for the future.’ For instance, Charim has worked on other structures within the organisation. Anneloes Vuyk has the new role of quality nurse for Charim. She sees the benefits of her colleagues making the step towards professionalisation. ‘They feel more confident in delivering the care needed,’ she explains. ‘And they have been given tools to truly ‘see’ the resident. And what I get back from residents is that they really feel seen.’

Customised support for quality improvement

516 nursing home locations participated in the programme ‘Dignity and Pride on Location’. Care professionals received support from coaches. They worked, for example, on improving care safety, cooperation with relatives or the use of care technology. The final report shows that improvements were achieved in all eight themes of the Quality Framework. The themes of ‘learning and improvement’ and ‘safety’ showed the greatest increase in quality.

87% of participating facilities were satisfied with participation in the programme and the benefits for their particular location. ‘It made the problems that were there clear and helped us tackle them in a structural way,’ said one participant.

Knowledge development and dissemination

Within the programme ‘Dignity and Pride on Location’, knowledge was also collected from nursing homes. This involved practical examples, experiences, tips, tools and instruments on the Nursing Home Care Quality Framework and its implementation. This knowledge was disseminated through online channels, such as this website, meetings and in learning networks.

The website reached an average of over half a million visitors a year. The organised conferences, also online in corona time, had a large number of visitors, as many as over 2,000 in 2019. An estimated 70 per cent of all nursing homes in the Netherlands participated in the programme’s online theme meetings. These meetings were rated an average of 7.8.

The results as described in the final report show that the programme ‘Dignity and Pride on Location’, has made a major contribution to ‘the movement towards further improvement of nursing home care’, and therefore to the well-being of and good care for older people.

Corona and infection prevention

During the corona pandemic, facilities also received the necessary support in their coronavirus approach. For example, in the area of ‘one-half meter’ care. The CoronaWegwijzer (Corona Guide) offered up-to-date knowledge and guidelines and was consulted over 60,000 times in total. As a further development of corona support, the programme, ‘Working Together on Infection Prevention’ was launched in January 2022. This programme saw a clear increase in the focus on infection prevention in 2022.

Room for improvement

With support from Dignity and Pride on Location, nursing homes worked hard on the quality of care but there is still work to be done. There is still room for improvement in almost all themes. This is something the sector can work on in the coming years. And by working together to make nursing care future-proof in the programme, Dignity and Pride for the Future’.

Results of Dignity and Pride on Location in 1.5 minutes

Join ‘Dignity and Pride for the Future

To continue providing care in the future, we will have to organise it differently. This way, older people will have more control over their lives and live at home longer. They will receive their care more digitally. The new programme ‘Dignity and Pride for the Future’ will help with this change. Your care organisation is not alone; and we will be prepared for the future together.

Interested? Read more about the programme and register

• Minister Conny Helder received the final report during a working visit to Charim. Read more about the visit. (Dutch).