Employment agency placed 120 unqualified workers at healthcare institutions
Employment agency Allround Care has deployed at least 120 employees to work at healthcare institutions without the proper qualifications, according to research by Follow the Money (FTM). Investigation by the Health and Youth Care Inspectorate (IGJ), the Dutch Labor Inspectorate, and the police showed that the unqualified workers worked in youth care and care for people with disabilities, among others.
FTM surveyed healthcare institutions, asking whether they had temporary workers from Allround Care. The institutions Enver, Amarant, Prisma, Raamwerk, and Gemiva emerged. These healthcare institutions all told FTM that they’ve received a letter from the Inspectorate asking whether the Allround Care workers had the correct qualifications.
Gemiva asked Allround Care to provide the diplomas of the nine temporary workers working at the healthcare institution, a spokesperson told FTM. When Allround Care failed to provide them, Gemiva asked the workers themselves. “We have not heard anything from three of them, and three did not want to provide diplomas,” the spokesperson said.
Allround Care told FTM that it was unable to provide the employees’ diplomas due to a technical fault at the software company responsible for its personnel files. Some of the diplomas were lost as a result, the employment agency said.
Allround Care’s lawyer also said that the agency mainly deploys workers in emergencies, and then how quickly it can deploy someone is the “essential” thing. “We work with experienced, flexible care providers, such as students in the final phase of their training or professionals with demonstrable practical experience and relevant certification,” the lawyer said. According to him, all care institutions were aware that some of their workers did not have their credentials yet.
The lawyer also pointed out that healthcare institutions regularly used unqualified staff in positions for which a diploma is not required. According to the lawyer, they only recently reconsidered this method due to pressure from the Inspectorate.
Gemiva said that the lawyer’s story does not check out. According to the care institution, it deployed Allround Care workers as supervisors in the care of people with an intellectual disability - a position that always requires a diploma. The employees in question also worked at Gemiva for a long time, not only in emergencies, the institution said.
