VAPH Single point of contact for disability in every primary care zone

The approved draft memorandum ‘Towards a renewed, integrated care and support policy for persons with disabilities’ (Flemish Government, 23 May 2025) sets out the ambition to provide a single point of contact for disability issues in each Primary Care Zone (ELZ). This point of contact should become a central back-office function that supports both citizens with (a suspected) disability and primary care professionals.
The draft memorandum emphasises the need for strong cross-sectoral cooperation and breaking through underprotection, in particular for citizens who are doubly vulnerable (disability, poverty, language barriers, limited digital skills or complex living situations).
Today, there is no systematic overview of existing services, consultation structures, partnerships, information barriers and bottlenecks in support within the ELZs. This creates the risk that the future point of contact will be insufficiently embedded in the existing field of work or will give rise to parallel structures. In its recent advice, the Flemish Council for Persons with Disabilities (VLAW) also warns of a lack of transparency, insufficient data-driven substantiation and too little involvement in the reform process. With a representative, supported and methodologically sound study, the VAPH can provide direction for policy choices for the near future.How can the new disability contact point within each Primary Care Zone (ELZ) be set up as a central back-office function with disability-specific expertise, supporting both professionals and citizens and strengthening cross-sectoral cooperation?
In accordance with the assignment, we distinguish four objectives:
1. Mapping existing services per ELZ
2. Mapping partnerships and coordination
3. Exploring the perceptions of users and professionals regarding bottlenecks and needs in practice
4. Advice on the future embedding and positioning of the disability contact point