Horrification minister about mistreatment care farm: should not occur

ANP

Prime Minister Clear

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 16:17

Minister Helder (Long-term Care) is very shocked by the mistreatment of residents on a care farm in Groningen. “I took note of this with horror. Something like this should not happen in the Netherlands,” she said this afternoon in the House of Representatives.

There she had to explain the report of the Health and Youth Care Inspectorate (IGJ) during Question Time. It shows that clients on care farm Aurora Borealis in Wedde were abused or punished both physically and mentally if they did something that the care staff did not like. People with severe multiple disabilities live on the farm.

All residents have now been relocated and the entrepreneurs have been arrested, said Helder. “It’s unbelievable that this happens.” Member of Parliament Lisa Westerveld (GroenLinks), who had called the minister to the Chamber, spoke of “maltreatment with sadistic features”.

The inspection report that came out yesterday contains examples of serious humiliations of residents. For example, someone had his head smeared with peanut butter, after which a dog licked it off. A client was also put in a ditch and another was pushed with his head into the toilet.

Took a long time

Several Members of Parliament wanted to know why it took so long for action to be taken in Wedde. The case came to light after investigative journalist Alberto Stegeman had made recordings of it with a hidden camera in October. It was not until December that the inspectorate actually intervened.

Minister Helder is also surprised that the abuses could persist for so long. She pointed out that the inspection had not previously received any reports. Moreover, Stegeman took his findings to the police and not to the inspectorate.

Aurora Borealis is also not an official care institution, but a location where care is provided on the basis of the personal budget (pgb). As a result, there was also less insight into the quality of care.

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