Future scenarios for the RIVM

Breast-cancer screening is delivered through mobile units that travel across the country, so women can access screening close to home. Although the screening process has largely remained unchanged over the years, many societal and technological developments are changing the playing field, especially in medical diagnostics and staffing in healthcare. In response to these challenges, RIVM asked Jester Strategy to help make the programme future-ready by exploring possible changes in the coming years.

Together with RIVM and external stakeholders, Jester Strategy facilitated a scenario-planning process. This structured approach enabled the team to explore emerging trends and developments using four different future scenarios. A core group from RIVM was involved in each step of the process, together with a broad group of stakeholders from hospitals, KWF Kankerbestrijding (the Dutch Cancer Society), the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, and parties responsible for delivering the screening.

Given the large number of stakeholders involved and the challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which made physical gatherings impossible, Jester Strategy deployed its online platform "Social Scenario Planning". On this platform participants can brainstorm together, put forward trends, respond to each other's ideas and give input on the scenarios. The scenarios were discussed with all involved stakeholders, with a focus on identifying possible actions to make breast-cancer screening more future-proof.