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‘Elderly people avoid nursing home because of corona limitations’

Industry association Actiz is investigating signs that the elderly are delaying a move to a nursing home because of the coronavirus. The nursing homes will check how large the vacancy rate is exactly.

The number of admissions to nursing homes in Brabant has fallen considerably in recent weeks, Omroep Brabant discovered after a survey. At Brabant-Zorg, which operates in the region between Oss, Uden and Den Bosch, even 180 of the 2500 rooms are now more empty than usual. Elsewhere there are also empty beds and empty rooms.

Actiz confirms the vacancy in Brabant, But a spokesperson speaks about a very diverse picture in the Netherlands. “There is certainly no vacancy everywhere,” he says.

Corona crisis

The situation in the nursing homes has everything to do with the corona crisis. Due to the measures of the cabinet, the doors are locked for visitors. New residents are required to be quarantined for two weeks. Reporting on corona infections in nursing homes also plays a role: people are afraid of contracting the virus.

As a result, relatives of older people on the waiting list often miss their turn. “That reluctance is understandable,” said Conny Helder, Actiz board member. “If you have your father or mother admitted now, you have no idea when you will be able to see it again.”

Nursing homes now sometimes call off the entire waiting list. Even then it is not possible to fill the empty beds.

Drop off in front of the door

Ingeborg Prins from Eindhoven is one of the people who now prefers to take care of her demented mother herself. “If she was admitted, we can drop her off with the suitcase at the door. Then say goodbye to your mother for two weeks, while she is already so vulnerable,” she says. “If they relaxed anything, if I can visit her three times a week, I say yes. But as it is, no.”

Actiz also calls that understandable. But cautions that family reluctance can sometimes lead to new problems. Board member Helder: “It is also not always wise. It is not for nothing that people have been on a waiting list for a long time.”

When that investigation is finished, the spokesperson cannot say. Before the corona crisis, 20,000 people were on the waiting list for a place in a nursing home.

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