In the Dutch hospitals, 2400 IC beds is the absolute maximum. There are simply not enough nurses to handle more beds. That says Gerton Heyne, the chairman of the professional association V&VN of the nurses The Telegraph.
“Any wish above 2400 is playing with fire, an illusion,” Heyne told the newspaper. He points out that the profession of ICU nurse not only requires certain skills, but is also mentally stressful. “You can’t just open a can of ICU nurses.”
The V&VN is critical of the call from politicians for more beds, as expressed by PVV and PvdA, among others. “It looks like an auction. Cow trade. It is not realistic.”
Minister De Jonge of Health did not want to commit himself to a number of IC beds in a parliamentary debate yesterday:
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