Ontwerprapport kiesBeter.nl 2006-2007

KiesBeter.nl (Make better choices) is a Dutch public Internet portal offering viewers answers to all their questions on health and health care. This is an initiative of the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport set up to encourage well-informed citizens to play a greater role in the Netherlands healthcare policy. This portal, managed by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, provides direct and specific responses to questions posed by the public on healthcare issues. It is also reliable, easy to use and coherent in the information offered. By the end of 2005 it should be possible to place questions on hospitalisation, healthcare insurance, medicines, and patient- and medical-care issues. In 2006 and 2007 the site will be further extended to include information on general practitioners, physiotherapists, homes for the elderly, nursing homes, homecare, mental health and care for the handicapped, to name a few. The year 2006 should also see a change to a more integrated approach to providing answers to questions that are more closely related to people's needs. Thus the homepage will be more structured, with more structured links to the deeper layers of the site. Services will also be extended from 2006 onwards to offer viewers information via the telephone and local information centres.