Co-funded by the European Commission, NIVEL carried out a mapping study of the home care systems in 31 European countries. It shows that decision makers can learn a lot from each other’s approaches, despite considerable differences between the countries in culture, health systems and available resources.

People who are caring for family members with dementia need professional support at all stages of the condition. This might for instance be advice on how to deal with the patient's behavioural problems, or information about how dementia progresses and the care options available. The longer the dementia goes on, the more the family carers feel the restrictions on their own social activities. This has been reported by researchers from the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL) and Alzheimer Nederland in The Open Nursing Journal.

Palliative care encompasses more than terminal care alone, and can be started at an earlier stage. However, in patients with a disease other than cancer – for example those with COPD or the vulnerable elderly – the general practitioner (GP) often only becomes aware of the need for palliative care gradually and at a relatively short time before death. This has been shown by research carried out by physician Susanne Claessen at the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL) and the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research. Claessen will be awarded a doctorate for her thesis on this subject at the VU University Medical Center (VUmc), Amsterdam on February 28, 2013.