Choosing Sustainability: Conclusions and Recommendations

When the Dutch are asked what they consider important in life, one of the first answers is invariably “good health”. Sooner or later, however, we all face health problems. When that time comes, we trust that care will be available and that it will be good, close at hand and affordable. Only recently, the Covid-19 pandemic has reiterated how much we rely upon that provision. The WRR therefore regards quality and accessibility as the most important public values associated with care. So they need to be safeguarded, now and in the future. At the same time, despite the ever-increasing need for care and hence for people and resources to deliver it, it is important to avoid compromising other public policy domains. To achieve that, our health and social care system needs to remain sustainable regardless of what demographic, social, technological and economic developments lie ahead.