The home and nursing care services will need some 140,000 employees up to 2030, according to researchers at the government’s social policy unit SCP.

The SCP says growth in the number of care workers will be 1.2% a year. Until now, growth has been assumed to be 1.8%. But researchers say fewer people will be needed because the elderly population is also becoming healthier.
The research was carried out on behalf of caretaker health minister Ab Klink who wanted to know what the likely effect of the greying population would be on the residential care sector.
Efficiency
Meanwhile, Eelco Daamen, chairman of the Amsterdam home care group Cordaan, says in the Volkskrant that care groups should work on a smaller scale and improve their alliances with family doctors, welfare groups and other local networks.
This means the frail elderly would go to their doctor for medical care and a community centre to play games.
At the moment, there is a lot of inefficiency and double capacity, he said.