Decentralisation of long-term care in the Netherlands: the case of day care at green care farms for people with dementia

Responsibility for health and social care services is being delegated from central to local authorities in an increasing number of countries. In the Netherlands, the planned transfer of responsibility for day care for people with dementia from the central government to municipalities is a case in point. The impacts of this decentralisation process for innovative care concepts such as day care at green care farms are largely unknown. We therefore interviewed representatives of municipalities and green care farms to explore what consequences they expected of decentralisation for their organisations and people with dementia. Our study shows that communication and collaboration between municipalities and green care farms is relatively limited. Consequently, municipalities are insufficiently aware of how green care farms can help them to perform their new tasks and green care farmers know little about what municipalities expect from them in the new situation. We therefore recommend that municipalities and green care farms keep each other informed about their responsibilities, duties and activities to ensure a tailored package of future municipal services for people with dementia.