Every nursing home resident in the Netherlands will have the right to one hour of personal attention from staff a day if plans by junior health minister Martin van Rijn become a reality.

The Telegraaf says the minister is set to publicise the scheme when the government’s 2016 spending plans are published in just under three weeks’ time.

Sources have told the paper the minister is concerned about staff shortages and the way home residents are left to ‘vegetate with the geraniums’.

Nursing homes are to be given an extra €1,000 per resident to pay for the extra help, at a total cost to the treasury of €133m a year. Activities could include going on a short outing or looking at photograph albums, the paper suggests.

The funding is based on an hourly rate of €50. If nursing homes can organise cheaper care, more can be done for patients, the paper says.