Eighty people in the Central Brabant region who depend on home care run into problems. Their care provider CCC Thuis in Zorg is bankrupt. After Friday the help will stop. Clients now have to call their health insurer for help at the last minute. “I find it hard to accept that I’m taking care of people tomorrow, then I have to burst them.”
It is striking that the clients are only informed so late. CCC Thuis in Zorg has deliberately done this. They asked their thirty employees to keep this quiet for the clients.
Lying to clients
And that is not easy, say employees. “There are people with a spinal cord injury or people who can’t get out of bed themselves,” explains a concerned employee. “They really depend on us. If home care stops, these people have a big problem.”
The employees find it particularly distressing that they had to ‘lie’ to their clients: “They have a right to arrange this themselves. This goes against my principles,” says another employee. A colleague responds: “I find it difficult to accept that I have to take care of people that I then have to burst.”
No place anywhere
A spokesperson for CCC Thuis in Zorg explains why they reported this so late. “We have been looking for a solution since our bankruptcy filing at the end of March, but we have not succeeded,” he says. There are more home care organizations in the region, but according to the spokesperson, there is a dire shortage of staff everywhere. “There is nowhere for our clients.”
CCC Thuis in Zorg indicates that she finds this very annoying for the clients. The spokesperson emphasizes that the legal duty of care lies with the health insurer. “We have approached all of our clients’ health insurers, but we have received little response. We have clearly indicated that it is important, but we just do not get a call back.”
‘Very unusual’
Health insurer VGZ denies that it happened that way. They let it be known that she was only approached by CCC Thuis in Zorg on Tuesday evening. “We are unpleasantly surprised by this situation,” says Jascha Hagendoorn of VGZ. “If we had been in touch earlier, we could have done more for our members. That has not happened now.”
According to the VGZ, the care provider has a duty to continue to provide care until someone else has been found to take over the care. “That has not been done and that is very unusual,” says Hagendoorn.
Contract not properly arranged
CCC Thuis in Zorg ran into financial problems because the contracts with the health insurer were not properly arranged. “We first fell under another company,” explains the spokesperson.
In September, CCC started working for itself, but the contracts with the health insurer were not finalized. Since then, no more money has been received by the company.
Clients in the cold
Although employees find it very difficult to leave clients out in the cold, continuing to work is also not an option, according to CCC. “Employees have not been paid a salary for months. They need the car for their work, but can no longer afford gas. That’s why they call in sick now. As a result, there are even fewer people available to take care of the clients.”
VGZ advises victims to contact their health insurer. “We will do our best to come to a solution with the clients,” says Hagendoorn.