More intensive care staff easier said than done: Health Minister

Staff shortages in Dutch intensive care units are a well-known problem that is not easy to solve. That said caretaker Healthcare Minister Hugo de Jonge in response to calls from the care sector to make more effective policy. This is being discussed and thought about, according to the Minister.

Diederik Gommers, chairman of the Dutch Association for Intensive Care, warned on Wednesday morning that ICU capacity is at the end of its rope. "The crisis is over, we have to learn to live with Covid. It is simply structural after a year and a half," he said in conversation with ANP. De Volkskrant reported on basis of a survey of hospitals that the number of ICU nurses is decreasing instead of increasing in various places. More people stop than are trained, also because of the workload.

According to De Jonge, "everything is being done" to train more people, but that takes time. According to him, it cannot be expected that "if you invest a little more" there will "suddenly be a lot of new ICU places" available. That is why it will remain the case for the time being that patients are spread across the country.

The Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sports announced that various initiatives are underway to see how healthcare can continue in the coming period. Minister Tamara van Ark responded to a report by the SER, which argued, among other things, for better career prospects, more structural funding and less regulatory pressure.

Discussions are also taking place with the Federation of Medical Specialists (FMS) and Nurses & Caregivers Netherlands (V&VN), who are drawing up a recovery plan for healthcare. The labor market will probably also be discussed in this, the Ministry expects. According to De Jonge, if hospitals want to distribute healthcare personnel across the Netherlands, similar to how patients are currently distributed, they will have to take the initiative themselves.