Terminal home care in the Netherlands: An overview

Beginning in the late 1980s, after a long period of declining interest in home care for the terminally ill, several projects and experiments were initiated in the Netherlands. This article describes this trend and provides background information on the Dutch health services, a definition of terminal home care, and statistical information about the different types of home care in the Netherlands. Findings from 3 recent studies of these projects and experiments are presented along with the guidelines for providing good terminal home care formulated by the Dutch Health Council in 1991.