Care in Germany: Future of geriatric care threatened!
Care in Germany: Future of geriatric care threatened!
Today, on March 5, 2025, the focus is on the challenges in German healthcare, especially in the area of nursing. The current film "Heldin" by Petra Biondina Volpe, who tells the history of the nursing staff Floria, illustrates the difficult situation in which nurses are located. Floria works in a hospital and has a great passion for her job and dealing with people. Nevertheless, she fights every day with the high workload caused by the chronic understaffing of her station. Despite this burden, Floria tries to provide their patients the best possible care. Judith Kaufmann's intensive camera work captures the breathless rhythm of her tasks and creates a subliminally threatening atmosphere that is reminiscent of a thriller. The leading role is played by Leonie Benesch, who impressively brings out Floria's challenges.
In recent years, the nursing emergency in Germany has further exacerbated, which was particularly obvious during the Covid 19 pandemic. This is underlined by the current discussion about the urgently needed nursing reform, which is classified as essential by Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach, but is expected to be implemented in the current legislative period. The increasing number of people in need of care who have increased an average of 326,000 per year since 2017 presents the care infrastructure with great challenges.
Lack of personnel and reforms in care
In 2022, Germany recorded an increase of 361,000 people in need of care, and forecasts show that this number could increase to around 6 million by 2040. The shortage of skilled workers is serious because four out of five care facilities had to restrict their offer due to lack of staff. A survey shows that 72 % of the nursing homes could not provide all the necessary services and 89 % of the outpatient services rejected new customers. As a result, two thirds of the nurses are dissatisfied with the effects of the current nursing staff subordinate (PPUG), which are considered problematic.The PPUG was exposed to a limited period in connection with Covid-19. Critics criticize that the definition of the care -sensitive areas and the determination of the lower limits are controversial, which makes the comparability of the data more difficult. Therefore, PPR 2.0 is developed as an interim recent solution. This determines the nursing staff requirement for direct patient care and is based on quality standards. In order to successfully implement PPR 2.0, flanking measures are necessary to increase the attractiveness of the nursing profession and ensure complete refinancing of personnel costs.
The future of care in Germany
Demographic development in Germany shows that the need for care services will increase continuously in the coming decades. The German nursing council estimates that around 500,000 additional nursing staff will be needed by 2034 to meet the requirements. This is supported by the initiative for sustainable and generation -friendly care reform, which aims to attract specialists and to improve working conditions in the nursing sector. By 2040, over 191,000 additional nursing staff will be needed. In this context, the “Community sister Plus” model in Rhineland-Palatinate is permanently financed to promote the care of older people.
Another aspect is the recruitment of foreign nurses that has already increased significantly. In 2022, 244,000 foreign nurses worked in Germany, the proportion of which has doubled in recent years. This shows the urgency to make the nursing profession more flexible and more attractive in order to counteract the serious shortage of skilled workers.
The film "Heldin" makes it clear how important the recognition and appreciation of nurses are in our society. Floria embodies the challenges and burdens that many colleagues are confronted with. Urgent measures are required here, supported by politics and society to ensure the necessary support and improvements for care.
For more information and the current status in nursing, a look at the reporting of muelheim-ruhr.de href = "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/pmc8134829/"> pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov and Deutschlandfunk.de .
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