[Point of discussion: Task and function of nursing homes. A starting point for innovation]

For several years there has been a discussion on the function of nursing homes, often in the form of a lot of criticism. Nursing homes in the Netherlands were developed more by the circumstances than by planned policy. In this discussion paper the NZR gives a description of how the nursing homes have to innovate their care in the future. It made a good choice in the point of reference: the man or woman who consumes the care that nursing homes produce. The paper presents many modern ideas about the quality of care, the way to organize it and the physical environment it needs. Unfortunately the paper is not consistent in the elaboration of the concept. It does not make a real choice for the future, because it tries to mix contradictory views as a geriatric hospital as well as a home for people who need continuous (nursing) care. That kind of ambivalence does not contribute to a good circuit of care-organizations in the future.