Health minister Hugo de Jonge has told parliament he intends to set up a compulsory blacklist for home nurses and other home-based healthcare workers, to help weed out bad apples.

The current voluntary blacklist is only used by 36 healthcare groups and this is nowhere near enough to allow for proper checking, De Jonge told MPs in a briefing.

‘Too few healthcare employers use this list to be effective,’ he told the AD. ‘But it is crucial that someone who has been sacked for stealing money from an old lady’s purse should not be able to turn up to work via another organisation.’

Healthcare workers who have stolen from patients or physically and mentally abused them will be included on the list, which institutions will be able to access.

The minister will introduce draft legislation making the blacklist compulsory from next year. According to health ministry figures, some 179,000 elderly people are the victims of some form of crime by healthcare workers every year.

De Jonge also plans to increase spending on training volunteers and on extra help for family members who take on long-term care duties.