Hastily arranged healthcare workers bonus often claimed by dubious businesses

Fraudulent healthcare directors likely pocketed a 1,000 euros bonus in 2020 intended healthcare workers in the frontline during the pandemic, an investigation by RTL Nieuws among 300 healthcare companies showed.

In some cases, healthcare directors would request a bonus for workers who did not exist. "We see, among other things, that employee lists have been manipulated," Karen Ottens from the Regional Information and Expertise Center (RIEC) Oost-Nederland said. Dozens of companies had issued more bonus requests than there were employees. For example, one healthcare provider in Hengelo requested a bonus for eleven workers, while in 2020, only five people were working for the company.

Inconsistencies came up most frequently among small healthcare businesses.

In 2020, the Cabinet spent 800 million euros more on healthcare worker bonuses than expected. This year, the bonus was reduced to 385 euros per employee. A spokesperson for the healthcare professional association NU'91 told NOS that there is likely a link between the lower rewards and fraudulent bonus applications.

If healthcare directors indeed committed fraud and the scope of the issue needs to be investigated by the Health Ministry.

According to accountancy professor Jeroen Suijs, the Cabinet had been too trusting, "The government should know by now that a number of healthcare providers do not work in the sector to provide care, but because it is a lucrative business."

A spokesperson from the Ministry of Health told NOS that it was "terrible but unavoidable" that some people would take advantage of the healthcare worker bonuses.