It is the first time that the Gouda city council has come together again physically this Wednesday evening. Since the coronavirus broke out, they were no longer physically in a room, but now they are. In limited occupation and with sufficient distance from each other, the councilors listen to the story of Van der Starre.
She is chairman of the board of directors of Zorgpartners Midden-Holland. A care organization with four nursing homes in Gouda, among others. She’s here because family members of residents of one of those houses are worried. Are there corona infections? Do residents die from the consequences of the virus? Since the visit ban, family members have heard all kinds of rumors, but the healthcare institution is not reporting anything.
Family concerns: they don’t hear anything
‘Bad,’ says Ton Broekhuisen. His mother (92) lives in Savelberg and he asked the institution for clarification in an open letter. ‘I know from a reliable source that corona deaths can indeed be regretted in Savelberg and other care centers full of vulnerable elderly people, managed by Zorgpartners Midden-Holland,’ he writes. “It is a coming and going of hearses, but your organization does not mention that.”
Broekhuisen received no answer. They will come now that the city council is interfering. It turns out: ‘Figures alone don’t say much,’ says director Van der Starre. “You have to provide them with context. And I like to do that here. “
Van der Starre then explains:
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Then the cold figures follow. In the four Gouda nursing homes (Prinsenhof, Savelberg, Ronssehof and De Hanepraij), 241 residents were tested in March and April, 97 of which were found to have the virus. In the end, 28 of them died. However, says the health care director: ‘These figures alone do not say much. It is not surprising to us that a vulnerable elderly person dies from a virus like corona. “
28 deaths in a month and a half
But whether the number of corona deaths is higher or lower than during a regular flu wave, Van der Starre does not know. “At the moment, we don’t have enough data to say anything about the excess mortality,” she told councilors. Whether it is normal for 28 residents to die in a month and a half remains unclear.
The corona virus has been diagnosed in more than 7,900 residents of nursing homes in the Netherlands. More than 2500 of them died. There are also 4,550 suspicious cases in nursing homes of people who may have the virus among members but who have not been confirmed. Source: RIVM
Flu wave comparable to corona pandemic?
Councilor Evert Bobeldijk of D66 believes that a comparison with a regular flu does not apply here. “The situation is very different for the outside world than a flu wave,” he responds. “People depend on your institution to hear about their family member. They are not allowed to visit for weeks and when they hear all kinds of figures from hospitals and RIVM, but not from their own healthcare institution, it looks like a black box where nothing comes out. “
According to Margot van der Starre, the privacy legislation prevents communication about corona victims. ‘The agreement is and was, that when an infection is diagnosed, immediate family is always informed. However, we are only allowed to inform the other families, even in the event of death, about this in a general sense. ‘
Not informed
Inquiries from Ton Broekhuisen show that he has not been informed by Zorgpartners Midden-Holland about infections and deaths in practice. The privacy law also appears to be more flexible than you might think. In an article by the Reformatorisch Dagblad earlier this month, the Dutch Data Protection Authority says that data from deceased persons does not count as personal data. And so there are no barriers to sharing that data.
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