With the two national agreements GALA and IZA, the movement from care to prevention has started. A great goal – but also a lot of work for municipalities, which have to start working on the agreements this year. Nautus consultant Bente van Logtestijn knows all about it – she is currently helping Nijmegen prepare for the introduction.
Prevention is better than cure. Few would disagree with this ancient wisdom. It can also be seen as the connecting principle behind the Healthy and Active Life Agreement (GALA) and the Integrated Care Agreement (IZA).
In the GALA, municipalities and GGDs, health insurers and VWS are jointly committed to a healthy and active life with a solid social basis. The IZA determines the work agenda for the care for the next four years, with the main objective of keeping the care good, accessible and affordable. Prevention – and therefore healthy living – also plays a key role in this.
In this way, both agreements focus on the movement from care to prevention. Where municipalities have to prepare for the introduction of two separate agreements (on 1 January next year), Bente van Logtestijn therefore emphatically approaches them in their mutual relationship.
“I don’t see it as two separate movements and I’m mainly there to connect the two processes and have them reinforce each other,” she explains. “That is my role as a process supervisor.”
She fulfills this role in Nijmegen, where she has been working for a while at the municipality: she recently completed a job as a policy advisor for the elderly. She also did that assignment from Nautus, an Amersfoort consultancy firm that specializes in the social domain.
The guts to take the first step
Preparing for the two agreements naturally entails the necessary challenges. As is so often the case with upcoming legislation and regulations, so much needs to be done that you can’t wait for all the implications of the agreements to fully crystallize.
“Because there is so much lying around and more information is gradually becoming available, you have to have the guts to take the first step,” says Bente. “That’s what makes it so much fun for me to do.”
“This movement offers municipalities opportunities to work towards a healthier generation in 2040.”
The fact that she agrees so well with the ambition that underpins GALA and IZA makes it an even more attractive assignment. “Something has to change in society in the way we deal with care. We can not wait. This movement offers municipalities opportunities to work towards a healthier generation in 2040.”
Marked money
To support the movement towards prevention, the government has made the so-called SPUK scheme available to all municipalities. Due to the agreements in the GALA, the money that municipalities receive for prevention through this scheme is now bundled into one payment.
Earlier there was also money available for prevention, but that was not earmarked. Municipalities could therefore also spend it on – for example – lighting cycle paths. The SPUK (which stands for specific benefit) is exclusively for sports and exercise, health promotion, cultural participation and the social basis.
Seek reinforcement
Of course, money alone will not get you there. To achieve the goal of a healthier generation in 2040, cooperation is essential, Bente emphasizes: “Both within the town hall and between regional municipalities, as well as between local implementation partners and across the domains of care and welfare.”
“They have to look for reinforcements together and make use of the initiatives and structures that are already there,” she explains. “A lot is already happening, let’s continue with that. And let’s take a good look at where we are still missing things and focus on that.”
Since the processes surrounding GALA and IZA are currently taking place throughout the country – so everyone makes plans and has to figure out the process – collaboration and knowledge sharing between different municipalities is also valuable.
“It is an interesting quest, but one that requires haste.”
“Fellow Nauturians also know how to find each other in this”, says Bente. “GALA and IZA are also an important part of our assignment in assignments with other municipalities, and if we have questions about the content or the process, it is very nice that we can turn to each other. Of course, every municipality has its own process, but it helps enormously to learn from each other.”
“And that also gives a lot of energy!”, she says enthusiastically. “It is a search for municipalities with what they already do, where they are still missing parts and what they want to focus on. An interesting quest, but one that requires a lot of haste.”
Invisible work
In the current preparatory phase, the steps taken by Bente still seem small. “But I’m getting a better picture of the process and what it takes to achieve a result. I am now exploring what is expected and what we are already doing in preparation for the action plan for GALA.”
“In addition, we are working on drawing up the regional picture in the region,” she says. “Ultimately I am working towards an action plan for GALA and a regional plan for IZA. There is a lot involved that you do not see yet, but that is my assignment.”
Moreover, as she aptly notes, this “invisible work” fits in with the theme of the process: “Prevention is also invisible, of course, because what you prevent is by definition not there.”
And just like prevention, the invisible work that Bente is doing now will also pay off later: “I am sure that we will soon gain ground.”
2023-06-05 04:06:02
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