Primary care zones have been set up to facilitate and support cooperation between local authorities, care providers and the people with care and support needs. In Flanders and Brussels, there are a total of 60 primary care zones. A primary care zone is an area of 75,000 to 125,000 residents, and covers 1 or several municipalities.
The aim? To deliver effective quality primary care that revolves around the citizen, and which is accessible to all. The primary care sector has been thoroughly reformed in recent years. The primary care zones are the cornerstone of this reform.
To find out the primary care zone where you live or work, go to eerstelijnszone.be
The care board is the governing body of a primary care zone. All care boards are not-for-profit organisations made up of representatives from the care and welfare sectors, local authorities, people with care and support needs and optional partners. The care boards are recognised and subsidised by the Flemish Government and, depending on their size, have one or several members of staff. They are the beating heart of the primary care zones. They collate know-how and expertise from various disciplines to serve those with care and support needs.
Click here to download the list of contact details of the care boards.
The care boards were set up on 1 July 2020. Within a very short period of time, they had assumed their role and place in the delivery of primary care. They did so by acting in flexible response to the needs identified in their zone. During the Covid-19 crisis, they were given a lot of added remits. Thanks to the multidisciplinary nature of the care boards, they manage to swiftly bring people together and put arrangements in place.
In doing so, they are supported by VIVEL with training courses and activities devised by the latter setting out from their needs and requirements.
The care boards have a wide range of basic remits. In addition, they may be assigned optional assignments geared to their local knowledge and contacts in the primary care zone.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic too, they carried out a number of important assignments: click here for further details.
The care boards operate in 4 sub-domains:
- In respect of individuals with care and support needs and their care team by:
- Providing support with the coordination of complex and chronic care
- Putting in place interdisciplinary cooperation
- Involving those with care and support needs and informal care providers ( = informal caregivers and volunteers) as fully-fledged partners in the delivery of care
- In respect of the local neighbourhoods and quarters in the primary care zone: delivering informal and community-oriented care by:
- Providing support for local social policy (aligned with the local social assistance and service delivery)
- Providing support for the Geïntegreerd Breed Onthaal (Integrated Broad-Based Reception)
- Fostering cooperation between formal and informal care providers
- In respect of the primary care zone by:
- Providing proper demand and supply analyses and working up proposals aimed at enhanced alignment ( = ‘population management’)
- Helping care providers to get better organised
- Providing training and education
- Providing support with handling complaints
- Fostering digital data processing and keeping the list of community resources up to date
- Picking up signals and proposing solutions
- At regional and Flemish level by:
- Organising consultation with the regional care platforms on the care offering
- Assisting with the Flemish quality policy
- Advancing the accomplishment of the healthcare and welfare objectives
