Flu epidemic hitting hospitals extra hard due to high absenteeism

Hospitals and other care institutions are struggling enormously to cope with the flu epidemic due to increasing staff shortages and high absenteeism in the sector, trade unions NU’91 and FNV Zorg & Welzijn told AD. Hospitals struggle to fill rosters with so many employees home sick with the flu.

In a normal situation, Dutch hospitals would be able to handle an epidemic of this size just fine, Elise Merlijn of FNV Zorg & Welzijn said to the newspaper. But this is not a normal situation. “There is a huge outflow going on in the sector. Many people have left because of dissatisfaction with their salaries and the difficult working conditions. That is really starting to take its toll.”

The unprecedently-high absenteeism in the sector comes on top of the staff shortages. “That has to do with the aftermath of Covid, among other things. There is a lot of catch-up care that suddenly needs to be realized. That creates extra pressure and leads to even more absenteeism,” Merlijn said.

Vernet, which collects healthcare absenteeism figures, can’t give exact numbers on the current absenteeism in the sector. But according to the company, absenteeism was about 13 percent higher in the second half of 2022 than in the same period a year earlier. Health and safety services ArboNed and HumanCapitalCare also said that thousands of employees reported struggling with increased stress, overwork, or burnout.

According to FNV, the current flu epidemic is not necessarily more intense than in previous winter seasons. “But it could be the last straw that breaks the camel’s back. Everything is piling up,” Merlijn said. “The house of cards could collapse any day.”

NU’91 confirmed that many carers and nurses are at home with the flu, and the number is rapidly rising. “That is absolutely cause for concern,” spokesperson Michel van Erp said to AD. “Because our staff are already performing at their best. We really couldn’t ask any more of them.”

The workload in the healthcare sector is “gigantic,” Van Erp said. If the situation doesn’t improve quickly, hospitals will have to postpone more surgeries, resulting in longer waiting lists for non-urgent care. “That is inevitable in this situation. Long-term absenteeism, for example, due to burnout, must be avoided at all costs,” he said.

According to the unions, the only solution is to attract more workers to healthcare by making the sector an attractive one to work in. That means better salaries, attractive terms of employment, more guarantees of permanent job, and a better work-life balance, Merlijn of FNV explained. “It really needs to happen now. We must turn the tide.”