It seemed like such a great plan: bringing students from abroad to the Netherlands to train them in healthcare. A pilot therefore started in November 2021, including Zorggroep Drenthe. RTV Drenthe revealed in July that there was dissatisfaction among students.
They had to deal with broken shifts, had to be active six days a week, had unpaid overtime and unpaid travel time between clients. In September, Zorggroep Drenthe announced that it would no longer attract new students from Indonesia. The students left en masse. Those who remained are now uncertain about their future.
“It has been a very unpleasant period for these people. They were brought here under false pretenses. The students who are left are actually falling through the cracks a bit. They are thinking about what they want. This project never had should be set up,” says Camara van der Spoel of FNV Zorg en Welzijn, looking back.
Bringing personnel from abroad therefore turned out not to be Columbus’s idea. But how should the staff shortage be tackled? Van der Spoel first believes that employers in healthcare should first give their staff a decent contract. “The average contract is 28 hours. That makes it easier to schedule. If you give them additional hours, you already have much more staff available.”
But that is not enough. In 2032, a shortage of 5,200 healthcare workers is expected in Drenthe. The shortage is even more acute in Drenthe than elsewhere, says Marieke Andreae, director of ZorgpleinNoord, an employers’ organization that is committed to a future-proof labor market in healthcare. “Drennieren has been promoted for a long time and the result is more aging and fewer available informal caregivers.”
Andreae says that 60 to 70 percent of the solution does not come from increasing staff. According to her, there are three pillars to tackle the staff shortage. Working differently, increasing technical innovation and social involvement.