The disabled care and home care also want to know which of the approximately 200,000 employees have been vaccinated against Covid-19 and which have not. Knowledge of the vaccination status is important for good patient care, say two large branch organizations in home care and care for the disabled.
Yesterday a number of OMT members called on the cabinet to enable the registration of vaccination status among healthcare personnel. Actiz, the umbrella organization for organizations in the elderly care, already announced on the same day that it supports this call because the elderly care also wants to know which care employees have and have not been vaccinated.
Employers are now not allowed to ask or register who has had a corona jab under the GDPR without necessity. What falls under “necessary” is currently not sufficiently defined in the law, according to healthcare organizations and experts. They want politicians to speak out and if necessary change the law.
Sometimes only half staff vaccinated
“The need is really high in some institutions in care for the disabled,” says Frank Bluiminck, director of the Association for the Handicapped Care Netherlands. He estimates that the vaccination rate among staff is sometimes as low as 50 percent.
“In those locations where the vaccination rate is so low, it would help us a lot if we know which staff members have not been vaccinated. We can then enter into a targeted conversation with them. We work with very vulnerable people who sometimes cannot be vaccinated themselves. The risks are really too great.”
Bluiminck’s obligation to register every healthcare employee is still going too far, but he does believe that insight into the vaccination rate of employees is necessary for good patient care. “We want to be authorized to ask and register whether someone has been vaccinated and we want to be able to act on the basis of that information. We will only use it in places where it is necessary. Fortunately, in many places it is also going well and there is good consultation with employees about this.”
‘Losing clients’
Hans Buijing of the Zorgthuisnl home care umbrella is in favor of registration for another reason. “More and more clients and their loved ones have questions about the vaccination status of the home care assistants. We are actually not allowed to answer that. We now notice that some organizations are losing clients, people no longer dare to have us over. people to sit without care.”
According to indications from Buijing, 80 to 85 percent of home care workers are now vaccinated. “That is quite high, but it means that about 15 percent are not vaccinated and we find that very worrying. Someone who receives care must not become sicker from the care provider. There is now tension, because our clients can become infected more quickly if they are visited by someone who has not been vaccinated.”
“People sometimes have good arguments for not wanting to be vaccinated. As employers, we just need to know more than is now allowed by law. If someone says “no” to vaccination, then you know that you have to let them work with a mouth mask or should try to bet elsewhere.”
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