Due to a staff shortage in healthcare, Eindhoven gets a maternity care hotel. At the Holiday Inn on Veldmaarschalk Montgomerylaan, new mothers and their offspring will be cared for for three months starting Wednesday. Mothers who refuse to enter the hotel and hope to get help at home run the risk of not receiving maternity care.
The Maternity Hotel is a collaboration between the main health insurance companies in the region (ZilverenKruis, CZ, Menzis, Coöperatie VGZ) and the maternity organizations Kraamzus, Kraamzorg VDA and Zorgmed.
Born out of necessity
At the moment, the maternity hotel is only intended for customers of those maternity institutions. Hotel maternity care is not an obligation, but due to staffing shortages, organizations say they “cannot guarantee that maternity care is possible at home”.
This guarantee is available in the maternity care hotel. “Of course, we always try to comply with the duty of care, even if someone refuses to go to a hotel, the duty of care still applies. But if we can’t deliver, we can’t deliver,” Coöperatie VGZ spokesperson.
According to VGZ, it will be “exciting” in more places in the Netherlands, but Eindhoven takes the cake. “There’s a combination of furlough, staff shortages, and a huge amount of maternity care requests. It all comes together in these three months. We’re doing this to reduce the risk.”
Educational videos instead of maternity nurses
At the Holiday Inn, a maternity nurse can take care of many women 24 hours a day. Every mother has her own room. Partners can stay overnight, but children can’t.
After your hotel stay, you can still receive home maternity care, but according to organizations, this will likely be digital maternity care. This means that parents can log into a website where they can watch educational videos that help during the maternity period.
