ANPEa demonstrator during a demonstration in The Hague for the preservation of emergency care
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 14:49
The specialized emergency care of the Zuyderland hospital in Heerlen is moving to the Sittard-Geleen branch as planned. Minister Agema has agreed with the hospital board that the renovation plans of the Zuyderland hospital will take into account the possibility of emergency care returning.
The PVV minister was in Heerlen today to talk for the last time about the possibility of all healthcare remaining housed there. The House of Representatives had asked her to ensure that the birth center, intensive care and emergency care remain in Heerlen. Agema himself spoke of “an ultimate attempt”.
However, hospital management maintains that it is not feasible to provide full care at both locations due to staff shortages. Agema says she understands this. “As a hospital you want to provide safe care.”
ANPThe Zuyderland Hospital in Heerlen
However, the hospital has promised to take into account a possible return of emergency care. Agema: “We have agreed that, if the staff shortage recovers, the hospital will take into account in the floor plans that additional buildings can be added so that there can still be an emergency room and intensive care at two locations.”
Hospital administrator David Jongen is happy with the outcome of the conversation. “We have to continue. We need perspective, as a company that employs 11,000 people. And so does the region.”
According to Jongen, the ambition to bring back emergency care in the future is “far away”. “The personnel problems are major. Everyone naturally hopes that the minister’s policy and all the efforts we make ourselves will be successful. The first step for us is to implement the course we have set. We still have a lot of work to do to achieve this. doing.”
ANP Hospital director David Jongen and Minister Agema in August
During the election campaign, several parties, including the PVV, promised that they would keep care in the hospital in Heerlen at the current level. The House of Representatives believes that Agema should fulfill that “promise to the mining region”.
Aging
Agema now says that she will “do everything she can” to make the South Limburg region attractive for people to settle there, so that the personnel problems are solved. “I believe that the labor market can change and that families also want to live here.”
Due to an aging population, it appears that the staff shortage will only increase. Many hospital employees will retire in the coming years.
Nevertheless, hospital administrator Jongen does not think it is a bad idea to take into account a possible return of emergency care. “We are going to build a new hospital here before 2030. It is very realistic to record in the drawings that, if the staffing problem resolves in the next 10, 20, 30 years, we can add something that will allow us to provide more emergency care and possibly a can provide emergency care and ICU.”
Financing
If the staffing problem is indeed resolved, the hospital and the health insurer will bear the costs of bringing back emergency care. CZ board chairman Joep de Groot says: “We initially have a personnel problem, not a financial problem. We would like to invest the money in two full-fledged hospitals, but at the moment we see that we only have room for one. If it is staffing problem has been solved, we see the opportunity to finance that.”
Political reporter Lars Geerts:
“The House had the greatest difficulty with the disappearance of emergency care, maternity care and intensive care. The House had therefore sent Agema with an assignment to prevent this, but that was not successful. The PVV minister will then also faces many critical parties, including her own party.
But you can also say that Agema was sent on a somewhat disastrous mission: the hospital had already indicated several times that it could not meet the wishes of the House due to staff shortages. Experts NOS spoke to do not expect the staff shortages to be resolved in the short term. They even assume that they will worsen. You may wonder what the promise about a possible return of emergency care is worth.”
The Real Burden of Staff Shortages: The Imperiled Future of Healthcare Services in Heerlen
Today’s news that specialized emergency care at the Zuyderland hospital in Heerlen will indeed relocate to the Sittard-Geleen branch comes as both a disappointment and an opportunity to assess the wider implications of staff shortages in the healthcare sector. Despite a last-ditch effort by Minister Agema to salvage the situation, hospital management confirmed that maintaining full services at both locations is no longer viable.
At the heart of this decision lies a critical issue plaguing the healthcare industry worldwide: staff shortages. While the primary concern for Heerlen residents is undoubtedly the impending transfer of emergency care services, the root cause of this issue needs to be addressed to forestall similar occurrences in the future.
On the surface, the relocation of services can be attributed to the hospital management’s desire for a more streamlined approach. In reality, this choice betrays a deep-seated issue within the healthcare sector: staffing. Specifically, Heerlen’s aging population will result in the rapid retirement of many hospital staff members, underscoring the desperate need for innovative recruitment methods and adequate staffing solutions.
Although Minister Agema claims that the staff shortage can be mitigated by rendering the South Limburg region attractive for families and young professionals, this approach relies on untested assumptions about job seekers’ priorities. Furthermore, would addressing staff shortages be enough to bolster Heerlen’s emergency services? Although Agema’s government promises to provide solutions to entice applicants to settle in Heerlen, meaningful action may come too late to change the trajectory for the town’s once-stellar emergency services.
A possible silver lining lies in the hospital management’s agreement to incorporate a possible return of emergency care services into the renovation plans. Future-proofing the Zuyderland hospital’s infrastructure for an eventual revival of full services at its Heerlen branch opens the door to hope and can be interpreted as a demonstration of intent. Nevertheless, it begs the question whether the problem lies in long-term recruitment strategies and talent attraction efforts rather than an infrastructure issue.
It has also not gone unnoticed that pre-election promises were made by the PVV to keep the Zuyderland hospital services running at the same level. During an election, optimistic campaign promises can occasionally cloud out long-term strategic planning and capacity building.
To that end, we have to scrutinize what is essentially the second factor driving this choice: Hospital management’s ability to re-prioritize available resources through new service dispersal. This has the potential to exacerbate pre-existing issues if hospitals continue to rely on an always-stretched talent pool.
