Flexibilisering in de jeugdgezondheidszorg: passende zorg voor alle kinderen

JGZ institutions are transitioning towards a more flexible implementation of the number and content of contact moments and reallocation of tasks of JGZ professionals. This frees up manpower to provide extra care to children who need it. This study compares three JGZ organizations in the extent to which they work flexibly. Insight is given into the proportion of basic care and extra care activities and the deployment of JGZ disciplines (doctors, nurses, assistants) in a sample (n = 15,776) of children aged 0–12 years from the JGZ digital file. The most flexible organization has the most children in extra care. In the least flexible JGZ institution, the fewest children receive extra care. The delegation of tasks from youth doctor to youth nurse is especially visible when the organization provides additional care with a focus on task delegation. The most flexible institution has highest hourly deployment of youth doctors in extra care activities, especially with 0–4-year-olds. In conclusion, flexibilization of contact form and disciplines in the JGZ can lead to more use of extra care. Further research is needed to gain a complete picture of factors that in addition to flexibility, determine the provision of JGZ care.