Not only since the beginning of the corona pandemic have medical staff groaned under poor working conditions. Minister of Health Lauterbach would like to give nurses a new perspective, especially in pediatrics. Gradually, they should be relieved and remunerated differently.
In the future, the need for nursing staff in the clinics will be calculated using a special tool. The Bundestag approved the law presented by Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach to relieve nursing care in the clinics. It provides for the application of the PPR 2.0 nursing staff model developed by the German Hospital Society, the German Nursing Council and the Verdi trade union in three stages.
The factions of the traffic light coalition voted for the law, while the Union and the left were against it. The AfD abstained. With the new regulation, ideal staffing for the stations should be calculated and enforced. From 2025, this personnel assessment should be binding, violations can then be sanctioned.
Lauterbach spoke of a “revolution” in connection with the new regulation. So far, economic concerns have been given too much priority, and medical aspects have played too little a role. “This balance needs to be readjusted.”
Lauterbach confirmed his intention to overcome the system of flat rates per case. It is a system “that emphasizes cheap and quantity instead of quality and appropriateness”. This applies in particular to pediatric medicine. “It must not be that profits are made on the backs of children, nurses and midwives,” said the minister. For this reason, pediatric medicine is largely taken out of the case-based flat-rate system.
The draft law also contains regulations for the financial strengthening of pediatric medicine. For example, 270 million euros are to be withdrawn from the liquidity reserve of the health fund in 2023 and 2024 to finance pediatric medicine.
In this context, Lauterbach promised further support for the children’s hospitals in Germany, which are currently completely overburdened. “We will do everything to get them through this serious crisis,” emphasized the minister. “We will not omit anything that we can offer the children.”
In addition, 108 million euros are also to be made available for the years 2023 and 2024 to finance obstetrics from the liquidity reserve of the health fund. In addition, the personnel costs for midwives in hospitals are to be fully taken into account in the care budget from 2025.
A so-called day inpatient treatment will also be introduced. In suitable cases, hospitals can therefore provide day inpatient treatment without overnight stays instead of full inpatient treatment. A special remuneration is also planned in this context.