Healthcare in the Netherlands is at a tipping point. The growing staff shortage, rising costs and increasing demand for care are putting the system under pressure and pushing us ever closer to 'code black'. Yet, this crisis offers a unique opportunity to fundamentally reorganise care. Collaboration is essential, which is one of the reasons why both TechMed professors Maroeska Rovers and Jouke Tamsma are delivering their lectures together in a double inaugural lecture.
We are entering a new era in healthcare. Technological innovations are reshaping the way we deliver care. As Professor of Evidence-Based Medical Technology and Innovation, Rovers works on the enormous challenges in the healthcare sector that we cannot ignore. "At the moment, one in six people works in healthcare. If we continue on this path, it will be one in three," Rovers says.
As Professor of 'Principles of Technical Medicine in Clinical Practice', Tamsma focuses on the connection with education and medical practice. "Technical Medicine enables more effective, safer, more efficient and more people-centred action," Tamsma emphasises. "Technology shouldn't just follow instructions but also ‘understand’ what we need."
Delta Works of Healthcare
As a metaphor for this large-scale transformation, the professors draw inspiration from the Netherlands’ most ambitious engineering feat: the Delta Works. After the 1953 flood disaster, the country united to construct a formidable flood defence system. “A radically new healthcare system could be just as groundbreaking,” says Rovers. “But like back then, we need all parties to unite. This time not against water, but against a shared threat.”
Now the enemy is not water, but a shortage of workers and resources, a changing care landscape, health inequities, climate change, and the growing role of big tech. Just like back then, tackling these challenges demands a collective approach, where government, academia, industry, and healthcare providers join forces.
Opportunity for regional care network
But before we can tackle this, we must dare to ask ourselves critical questions. “Are we willing to entrust aspects of care to AI?” Rovers asks. “If AI can perform a task better than a human, then we should let it. That frees up healthcare professionals to do what they do best: listening to and supporting patients.”
But Rovers also wonders how we can keep healthcare manageable. “By 2040, 60% of the Dutch population will have a chronic illness,” Rovers says. “We will have to make tough decisions about what care to offer and how to offer it.” She predicts that hospitals in 2040 will look very different: smaller, and even more focused on high-tech specialised care.
As hospitals scale down and focus only on the most complex cases, patients will go home or to community care settings sooner. This creates opportunities for regional care networks. Tamsma: “With technology that understands people, like remote care systems, the effectiveness of regional networks can increase. And all without compromising safety or quality. In fact, care quality may even improve.”
Technology that understands people
For example, a lot of things are changing that we can’t yet foresee. And that's why we need to get everyone to understand the technology and healthcare. "And you can’t afford to stay behind either, because it's about your health," says Tamsma. Making this technology understandable for everyone, means bringing Technical Physicians beyond the hospital walls much more often.
Currently, Technical Physicians are often found in settings like intensive care units or working with 3D technologies. “Take someone who’s struggling to come off a ventilator; that’s the kind of case where a Technical Physician adds real value.” Their expertise is also vital in imaging, radiology, and orthopaedic surgery. But their potential impact extends far beyond hospitals.
In elderly care, for example, they can help determine how to monitor frail patients using sensor data. This makes it possible to deliver high-quality care with fewer staff, and easing the pressure on the workforce.
Double inaugural lecture
This double inaugural lecture emphasises that we cannot shy away from the healthcare challenges ahead. Right now is the opportunity to realise a flexible, resilient system where technology understands and supports people. Rovers and Tamsma urge all stakeholders to step up: "With the help of Technical Medicine and together with the entire healthcare ecosystem, we are going to make healthcare more available, accessible, safer and more sustainable." This is how we build the Delta Works of healthcare, ready for the challenges of tomorrow.
Since mid-2022, Prof. Dr. Maroeska Rovers has been scientific director of the Technical Medical Centre, a leading institute that has an impact on healthcare through research, innovation and education. Rovers is also Professor of Medical Technology & Innovation at Radboudumc in Nijmegen and a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), NAE and KHMW, among others. With this inaugural lecture, she officially accepts the position of Professor of Evidence-Based Medical Technology and Innovation (Faculty of BMS).
Jouke Tamsma has been the medical director of the Technical Medical Centre since 2019. Since 2000, he has been working as an internist in vascular medicine at the LUMC, where he became director of Medical Affairs in 2010. With this inaugural lecture, Tamsma officially accepts the position of Professor of Principles of Technical Medicine in Clinical Practice (Faculty of S&T).
