new project: Positief Gezond Innoveren

De transformation from care to health is a complicated change process. It demands a different use of available means (money and professionals) and more focus on prevention and people’s own responsibilities as well as a different way of organising collaboration between inhabitants, volunteers and professionals. Positief Gezond Innoveren (Positive Healthy Innovation) will address these challenges in various learning environments on local practical initiatives in order to discover how we can set this large movement in motion. While doing so, we link with existing initiatives which are monitored and, in a way, used as pilot projects.

Learning Process
Learning processes of various pilot projects will be examined through action research according to the Social Innovation (SI) approach. Inhabitants, care professionals and municipal professionals will learn to find answers to the challenges they are faced with on a local level. At the same time, an all-encompassing learning process will take place in the Zeeuwse Zorg Coalitie (Zeeland Care Coalition). By providing and discussing detailed data and lessons learned in practice, administrators are enabled to make different choices.

Pilot Projects
At least six local projects are used as a pilot project. Aside from our own project Tuus in Smerdiek in which we were already involved, these are Kerngezond centra, Sociaal Medisch Overleg (SMO), Welzijn op Recept, Wonen en Zorg visie en de Zeeuwse Leefstijlroute. The pilot projects vary a great deal both in setup and tenor. This means that they encompass a great number of themes and target groups. These vary from prevention to specialised care, for instance , which is also why they provide a valuable overview of what is at play in the region.

This is how Positief Gezond Innoveren came about
Positief Gezond Innoveren is a project within the province of Zeeland which falls under the provision of the Zeeuwse Zorg Coalitie. It is one out of a total of eleven projects which was endorsed by ZonMw as part of the national programme ‘Leren transformeren: van zorg naar gezondheid’ (learning to transform from care to health). Regional cross-domain collaborations (such as the Zeeuwse Zorg Coalitie) could apply for a grant to learn to transform, e.g. to find out in practice how the current health system can be shaped differently in a way that is more future-proof. The project will last three years and it started out in May 2024.