KBO-Brabant is sounding the alarm because it sees that elderly people living at home will receive too little care this summer. According to the seniors’ association, she has never received so many complaints before and they see a lot of suffering behind the front door.
Weeks have to look for care in the home for someone who is terminally ill. A toilet that has not been cleaned for three weeks because there are no staff available. These are a few examples that Ellen Willemsen, policy officer at KBO-Brabant, mentions.
“We have known for some time that there are staff shortages in healthcare, but this summer it is really doom and gloom.” As a result, informal carers have to do even more and risk becoming overloaded, says KBO-Brabant.
“They work hard to arrange care, but that is becoming increasingly difficult.”
KBO-Brabant works with client support staff. These are volunteers who help the elderly in the search for help in care land. This can be domestic help, but also personal care and nursing help. They see what the shortage of care means for people. They are looking for alternatives now that care is no longer available during vacation time.
“They are working hard to arrange care for elderly people living at home with fragile health, but that is becoming increasingly difficult. Recently, a client support worker in Eindhoven had to look for help for a terminal patient. It took weeks to get it right.”
Ultimately, people often resort to help from a care provider who does not have a contract with the health insurance. This means that this care is not fully reimbursed.
“That means that you pay for part of the costs yourself. It is often the smaller home care organizations that are more flexible, where it is sometimes easier to get care. But that has to be done through the health insurer. They have a duty of care and can engage uncontracted care providers without additional costs.”
“We want to keep municipalities to the contracts. If the elderly want this, we can help them with that.”
For domestic help, elderly people living at home are dependent on the Social Support Act, for which the municipality is responsible. If the municipalities discontinue this aid for a long time, KBO Brabant will consider taking legal action. “You are assigned a number of hours of domestic help on paper. We want to keep municipalities to the contracts. If the elderly want this, we can help them with that.”
KBO-Brabant believes that home care organizations should keep the elderly well informed about the state of affairs. “If there is less care available, please let us know in good time. Prepare them for the holiday period, so that they can talk about it with relatives and possibly look for alternatives.”
But she also sees a better holiday spread and the use of technical and digital tools as a solution.
Willemsen: “It is very annoying for the elderly living at home and they do not like to complain. But this is also a very unpleasant situation for staff in care.”
Do you or someone in your area experience the shortage of staff in home care and do you want to say something about it? Contact us.