Zorggroep Tangenborgh asks family and carers of clients to lend a hand during the months of July and August. Due to increasing staff shortages in healthcare and absenteeism, any help is welcome. The healthcare organization recently sent a letter to the relatives of their clients.
In the letter, Tangeborgh states that there are simply not enough people to provide all care, especially with the summer holidays just around the corner. We therefore ask for understanding that not ‘all care can take place at the desired time’. New requests for care are looked at ‘closely’.
Incidentally, there is no request to intervene with regard to the actual care. It is more about support in the form of making a cup of coffee, help with dressing and undressing, taking a walk or playing a game. Zorggroep Tangenborgh takes care of approximately two thousand clients. The organization has eleven residential care locations in the municipalities of Emmen, Coevorden and Borger-Odoorn.
De Emmer dentist Hans Prakken also received the call from Tangenborgh with the request to lend a helping hand. “Yes, such a letter touches me.” He does not blame the healthcare institution in any way. “Residents there are surrounded with warmth and I therefore consider care center De Bleerinck in Emmen (part of Tangenborgh) of paramount importance.” He is aware of the shortages in terms of personnel and therefore speaks of a completely justified question to family and loved ones.
Prakken himself, along with a number of others, takes on the informal care for a centenarian colleague who is staying in De Bleerinck. “The man has no family and that’s why I took care of him years ago.” He does this work with four others. “Some do that for pay, the rest do it because of the bond they have with him.”
The group is now looking at where they can step up their game. “Perhaps someone has a stray cousin who could help.” Prakken calls the situation worrying. “A shortage of healthcare personnel in the Netherlands. What are we doing wrong, I wonder.” He himself has a suggestion for a possible solution. “I contacted De Bleerinck and pointed them to the Food Bank and the Refugee Work Foundation. The people who seek support from these organizations may want to lend a helping hand.”
These are people who do not have a job or who are not yet allowed to work pending a residence permit. Perhaps they can lend a helping hand in this case, Prakken thinks.
According to Gemma Bruins, care manager on behalf of Zorggroep Tangenborgh in Southeast Drenthe, this is not the first time that family and loved ones have been called upon. “We already made this request last year. We received responses to it and this year we decided to make another attempt.”
The plan stems from a trend that has been going on for years within the Dutch healthcare landscape. “The demand for care is increasing, but the number of employees remains the same.” One of the consequences is the increasing workload among employees. Resulting in more absenteeism.