Care for the elderly in the Netherlands is below par and the government has agreed to invest an extra €5m on improvements, press agency Novum reports on Thursday.

Over half of care and nursing homes have a shortage of professional staff and care workers have too little knowledge of how to provide safe care, according to a report by the health ministry inspectorate IGZ presented to parliament on Thursday morning.

In addition, the care sector is becoming increasingly complex but the expertise of the staff is not growing at the same rate, the report says.

2,000 homes

The IGZ inspected 450 care providers which together account for 2,000 care and nursing homes.

Many of them work under outdated protocols. For instance, 90% of the inspected homes do not follow new rules on storing medicines. Many lag behind on the drawing up and implementation of care plans, the IGZ says.

Later on Thursday, junior health minister Martin van Rijn said the quality of care for the elderly ‘must improve’, reports the NRC. He will make an extra €5m a year available for a ‘catch up manoeuvre’.