Dutch health sector facing crippling supply and staff shortages

[Palinurus]

Source: Dutch health sector facing crippling supply and staff shortages

Tuesday, 21 July 2022 - 16:20
Dutch health sector facing crippling supply and staff shortages

Hospitals throughout the Netherlands are facing significant shortages of medical supplies like needles, breathing tubes, vascular prostheses, and knee implants. Surgeries are already being postponed as a result, according to research by RTL Nieuws. On top of that, nursing homes are struggling with such major staff shortages this summer that they have to ask residents' loved ones to help, AD reports.

All Dutch hospitals together currently have thousands of outstanding orders that suppliers can’t deliver. Each hospital shorts between 100 and 300 different products, according to RTL. The trade association of producers and suppliers of medical devices, Nefemed, confirmed to the broadcaster that an inability to deliver orders is “the order of the day.”

“The amount of problems is now greater than during the corona-virus crisis,” Gerwijn Meijer of Zorginkoop Netwerk Nederland (ZINN), a purchasing organization with the 30 largest Dutch hospitals affiliated to it, said to the broadcaster. The pandemic is still the leading cause of the shortages. Lock downs in China still disrupt supply in demand by causing factory staffing problems. Transport lines are still disrupted. And there is an increased demand due to catch-up care.

Meijer warned doctors and hospitals that having access to the products they are used to is no longer an automatic thing. “It is two minutes to midnight, a crisis situation against which you have to take measures,” he said to RTL. Shortages cause problems all over the world and will continue to do so for years to come, he said.

Nursing homes are struggling with massive staff shortages, according to the newspaper AD. The 23 nursing homes under Thebe in Midden- en West-Brabant asked patients’ relatives to step in. “We ask: please come and help with showering, taking off compression stockings, or being there for dinner. This can relieve our nurses,” a spokesperson said to the newspaper.

Amsta in Amsterdam sent a similar request to loved ones. The necessary care continues, but those who want anything more than absolutely necessary for their parent or other relatives must roll up their own sleeves, a spokesperson said. AD got similar statements from WZU Veluwe, Drieborg in Zwolle, Amstelring in Amsterdam, and the Saxenburgh group in Hardenberg.

Additional coverage: Nursing homes call on relatives to help take care of frail elderly - DutchNews.nl

 

[Carlos Alberto]

There have been a lot of stories on the Canadian news about problems with health care (e.g. staff shortages, closing of emergency rooms and walk-in clinics, people unable to get a family doctor, etc.).

Here's one example:

Canada's health-care system is 'collapsing around us,' warns CMA president

 

[Debra]

There have been a lot of stories on the Canadian news about problems with health care (e.g. staff shortages, closing of emergency rooms and walk-in clinics, people unable to get a family doctor, etc.).

Here's one example:

Canada's health-care system is 'collapsing around us,' warns CMA president

I was sent this article today, seems like a build up of some sort going on. If the Chinese manufacturers are refusing to do business with North America, things are going to be very interesting.

“Alberta doctors are preparing for a shortage of epidural supplies that could lead to tough decisions about who gets the "gold standard" in pain management and who doesn't.

According to Alberta Health Services (AHS), supply chain issues are leading to a global shortage of epidural catheters and tubing. It said patient care is not impacted at this time, but it is trying to track down urgent supplies.”

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/shortage-epidural-supplies-alberta-1.6527670

 

[Palinurus]

Thanks guys/girls for chiming in with supplemental info from elsewhere.

seems like a build up of some sort going on

Yes, it certainly looks that way. From scattered sources I know that similar problems prevail also in the UK but I don't have specifics on that one excepting that waiting lists and waiting periods have grown disproportionately across the board. Covid/corona is an easy and obvious excuse for all the ailments within the industry because of a back-log in other treatments. What's really going on isn't quite clear ATM and will need some sorting out.

 

[Maat]

Well, you can count France in too!

 

[Lyndi]

Well, you can count France in too!

Ontario, Canada too. This past week 7 emergency departments in smaller rural city and town hospitals closed for the weekend or for overnights. Unprecedented. CBC radio news. The announcer said it was NOT due to the vaccine mandates. I think, if honest, CBC announcer would have to have stated vaccine mandates played a role. Certainly Covid infections has caused major city transportation lines to reduce some service, so likely affecting hospital staffing too. I just don't remember if that was mentioned re the hospitals.

 

[RedFox]

A quick glance at articles for the NHS (National Health Service) in the UK.
From 2019:

Latest figures show that there are now 106,000 vacancies across the NHS in England, including over 44,000 vacancies in nursing. This marks an increase from one year ago.

From a few days ago:

“50,000 extra nurses will still leave the NHS almost 40,000 short of what is needed.” [..]
Ms Marquis pointed to latest data from the Nursing and Midwifery Council which showed almost 20,000 nurses left the register in England during the past year [..]

So that looks like 90,000 nurses.

Part of this is the (ongoing) controlled demolition of the NHS, as well as more people coming to the UK. However it does seem that the last few years have had an effect.
What it is I can't say. Another possibility next to vaccines is something I heard on a podcast recently, that people (especially women) suddenly discovered that they really liked being home and around family more. Others will have moved onto either less stressful and/or better paying jobs.

 

[Carlos Alberto]

Part of this is the (ongoing) controlled demolition of the NHS, as well as more people coming to the UK. However it does seem that the last few years have had an effect.

Yeah, it seems to me like a controlled demolition is taking place in the Western world. It's not just health care but seemingly everything. Some things that have happened in Canada recently:
- Significant gas price increases.
- Very high inflation - people feeling the pinch at the grocery store.
- Did anybody say high inflation? Never fear, the Bank of Canada is here to help. They just raised the interest rate by 1 % (with more to come) to bring inflation under control. Don't worry about being able to pay your mortgage or that loan for your business, I'm sure the government will help with that too.
- A never ending talk about climate change and how dangerously hot it is. Of course, the goverment is working on solutions to save us and the planet by reducing energy consumption (i.e. no air conditioning for you) eliminating driving and traveling, reducing cattle and agriculture.
- It has become almost impossible to get a passport. Processing times are unusually high and people have been lining overnight in the street outside the passport office.
- Chaos at the airport - delays and cancellations, lost baggage.
- I haven't seen many news about the education system but I've heard from teachers I know in Ontario that teachers are finding it increasingly difficult to cope with all the nonsense. Apart from Covid regulations it seems to me that schools have become a Woke Wonderland where a sick game is played, the students and parents keep finding new ways to be a victim of some offense and the school boards are leaving the teachers out to dry.
- Also, of course, farming and food production are under attack.

Most of these issues are reported in the media but always in a way that exonerates the government of any responsibility. I'm not sure if this controlled demolition is mostly targeting Western countries, I haven't seen much of this here in Mexico (other members can correct me if I've missed something) and things seem to be mostly normal so far.