WMO, what is that exactly? Well, it is for the Dutch law Wet Maatschappelijke Ondersteuning, Law for Social Support.
Tom van der Wal
This is a replacement of former laws, helping people with support from state or provincial funds. Not all is managed on a communal level. But the government refused to transfer the full amount of money with it. For elderly people, it applies to elderly care for people in later stages of Alzheimer or otherwise fully unable to take care of themselves, but also parts of les extensive care, at home, or mobility aids like wheelchairs.
Most communal governments are not ready for this huge job, also includes youth care and care for the disabled. Already the elderly needed to live in their own homes longer, forcing relatives to take care of them, even if that is not really possible. Cleaning the house is done if this is not physical possible for the elderly person, but some patients send the person doing the cleaning away after less than 10 minutes and the home isn’t clean properly. Time for social contacts is out of the question, anyway. There is a case-manager for a lot of patients, and this case-manager also has no time to really help. So, what are the city or communal groups of villages going to do? According to GroenLinks, our green party, there can hardly be any savings on efficiency. Everything has already been cut down to its bare minimum.
Looking at the near future, I am very pessimistic. I see people getting increasingly dirty and lonely. I see lots of unneeded medical costs coming on, because of medicines not being taken, not enough time being spend on the patient or just the patient being in a situation of bad hygiene. I see people losing the little control they had left on their lives completely. Mind you, we have a combined liberal and socialist government in the Netherlands. But the liberals are in fact pure conservatives, and the socialists lost their roots. Our oppositional Christen Democrats are often more progressive (except for family life)! Time for a change!
Tom van der Wal
