BackgroundA redesigning of primary care is required to meet dementia patients’ needs. In the Netherlands, current dementia care still falls short in areas including ad hoc collaboration, lack of feedback on quality to professionals involved, and insufficient implementation of established multidisciplinary guidelines.ObjectiveDementiaNet is a collaborative care approach, which aims to reduce the burden of the disease on individuals, healthcare services and society via network-based care that encourages collaboration, enhances knowledge and skills and stimulates quality improvement cycles.Material and methodsDementiaNet was developed to support primary care networks through implementation of five core processes: network-based care, clinical leadership, quality improvement cycles, interprofessional practice-based training and communication support tools, following a stepwise tailor-made approach. Alongside this, a mixed method study was designed to evaluate innovation and effectiveness.ResultsCurrently, 18 networks have been formed. These vary in quality of care and strength of collaboration due to local circumstances. Initial activities and goals of each network also vary, ranging from acquaintance to shared care plans. Ongoing research will identify barriers, facilitators and merits of the approach in increasing quality of care and ultimately improving outcomes for patient, carer, health service and society.ConclusionInitial results show that clinical practice varies and the DementiaNet approach can lead to quality improvement. Complexity and variety of local care requires complex interventions and evaluation methods that account for this in order to safeguard the value for practice. Strict methodology lessens external validity.

IntroductionThis study aimed to provide insight into the merits of DementiaNet, a network-based primary care innovation for community-dwelling dementia patients.MethodsLongitudinal mixed methods multiple case study including 13 networks of primary care professionals as cases. Data collection comprised continuously-kept logs; yearly network maturity score (range 0–24), yearly quality of care assessment (quality indicators, 0–100), and in-depth interviews.ResultsNetworks consisted of median nine professionals (range 5–22) covering medical, care and welfare disciplines. Their follow-up was 1–2 years. Average yearly increase was 2.03 (95%-CI:1.20–2.96) on network maturity and 8.45 (95%-CI:2.80–14.69) on quality indicator score. High primary care practice involvement and strong leadership proved essential in the transition towards more mature networks with better quality of care.DiscussionProgress towards more mature networks favored quality of care improvements. DementiaNet appeared to be effective to realize transition towards network-based care, enhance multidisciplinary collaboration, and improve quality of dementia care.

Since coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) entered the Netherlands, the older adults (aged 70 or above) were recommended to isolate themselves, resulting in less social contact and possibly increased loneliness. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore independently living older adults’ perceptions of social and emotional well‐being during the COVID‐19‐related self‐isolation, and their motivation to expand their social network in the future. Semi‐structured phone interviews were held with 20 community‐dwelling adults (age range 56–87; 55% female) between April and June 2020 in the Netherlands. The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Open coding process was applied to identify categories and themes. Participants said to use more digital technologies to maintain contacts and adapt to the government measurements. Most participants missed the lack of social contacts, while some participants had no problems with the reduced social contacts. The emotional well‐being of most participants did not change. Some participants felt unpleasant or mentioned that the mood of other people had changed. Participants were not motivated to expand their social network because of existing strong networks. The relatively vital community‐dwelling older adults in this study were able to adapt to the government recommendations for self‐isolation with limited negative impact on their socio‐emotional well‐being.