Junior health minister Marlies Veldhuijzen van Zanten has signed a covenant with eight long-term care associations which commits the sector to creating 12,000 new jobs from 2012, the NRC reports on Monday.

In return, the minister has agreed to pump €852m a year into the residential care sector to boost employment levels.
Some 280,000 people currently work in the long-term and residential care sector and the 12,000 new jobs represent an increase in staffing levels of 4%.
The anti-Islam PVV had made the creation of 12,000 new healthcare jobs a condition for its support of the minority government on economic policy.
The covenant also commits care providers to making sure the money is spent on improving patient care rather than red tape, the paper says.