Five Dutch healthcare unions have handed MPs a petition of more than 15,000 signatures calling to guarantee the future of post-birth maternity care for mother and baby.
The kraamzorg maternity care assistance, which is offered in the eight days after birth in the Netherlands, is under threat due to a severe shortage of labour and inadequate pay, say unions including the FNV.
They say that last year 500 families did not get a maternity care assistant or kraamverzorgende because there was so much pressure on the system, with babies born at the same time. The FNV cited research suggesting that within 10 years, the shortage could rise to 37,000 families without kraamzorg, a quarter of all births.
The unions want a dedicated ministerial representative and better pay, including for “waiting” time where carers have to be available in case babies are born but receive around €11.50 per eight hour shift, before tax. A typical contract of 130 hours a month includes 244 to 265 hours on standby, according to the FNV.
GreenLeft/Labour MP and former midwife Elke Slagt-Tichelman received the petition on behalf of MPs and said that the Netherlands has a unique system that helps families to bond after birth.
But according to Statistics Netherlands the environment and expectations have an impact on the country’s demography. New mothers and fathers are ever older, and regional house price spikes are reflected in dampened birth rates. “We see the number of children per woman has dropped since 2010, a development that puzzles a lot of demographers,” said Statistics Netherlands sociologist Tanja Traag. “We see it as a kind of delaying behaviour.”
Yvette de Vries, spokeswoman for the FNV, said kraamzorg is vital for new parents and memories of how it helped her underweight newborn daughter are still fresh, 18 years later. “In the Netherlands, a few hours after giving birth you are sent home, with your car seat and your baby, and you just feel unprepared,” she said. “For your confidence, it is essential…And there is no alternative in the Netherlands.”
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