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Corona rapid test: "It is called a rapid test, but it takes 30 minutes"
Photo: Hauke-Christian Dittrich / dpa
"Special protective measures must be taken for old people's and nursing homes." This sentence has long been one of the standard formulations that can be found in every resolution paper at the conferences of the Prime Minister and Chancellor.
The federal and state governments have not yet been able to keep the promise.
Many people are still dying in the homes as a result of a corona infection.
The vaccination campaign is now running in the facilities.
The 101-year-old Edith Kwoizalla from a retirement home in Halberstadt, Saxony-Anhalt, was the first German ever to receive a vaccination against Covid-19 about a month ago.
She has already received her second dose, and by the end of January all residents of nursing homes are said to have been given a "vaccination offer".
In mid-December, the federal and state governments also decided to make tests compulsory in old people's and nursing homes: Nursing staff should be tested regularly; in hotspots with a high incidence, visitors only come to the home after a negative rapid test.
But there is a lack of implementation.
The federal chairman of the German Association of General Practitioners, Ulrich Weigeldt, criticized the federal government sharply: "It is completely incomprehensible that the government and its virological advisors are only now, albeit half-heartedly, focusing on the people in the homes," Weigeldt said "Rheinische Post".
"In the second year of the pandemic and despite the availability of rapid tests, why is it still not possible for everyone, but really everyone, regardless of whether they are caregivers, cooks or gardeners, to be tested as soon as they enter a care home?"
Great effort for the nursing homes
In fact, not much has been seen of a test offensive so far.
The federal government and state leaders admonished the homes in their most recent decision that they were "responsible for ensuring that the test arrangement is fully implemented."
But what is supposed to protect the residents in particular means a considerable effort for the homes, which are often overloaded anyway.
"Such a quick test is called a quick test, but it takes 30 minutes," says Michael Noll, head of quality management at Alexa Senior Services in Berlin.
“In addition, employees have to put on protective clothing.
Time is running out when caring for those in need of care. «In around half of their 16 facilities, they therefore need outside help with the tests.
Charlotte Bellin, facility manager of the Evangelical Altenhilfezentrum Stiftsheim in Kassel, reports something similar: “It's about protecting the residents and employees, that's all right.
But we can't do that with our own nursing staff. ”At the moment, visitors can therefore only be tested for admission to the home on Tuesdays and Fridays.
And even these tests were not all done by the nursing staff, but also by retired doctors who supported the home.
The federal government actually wanted to provide help quickly and easily, with 30,000 volunteers, recruited through the Federal Employment Agency, trained by the German Red Cross.
On January 5th, the federal and state governments published the plans, in which the welfare associations and the German Association of Cities are also involved.
Negotiations have been going on since then.
Apparently everything is ready
It is agreed that interested parties should inform themselves and report to the Federal Employment Agency.
The Federal Agency does not want to select applicants, but rather collect the data and pass it on to local authorities and districts.
A corresponding hotline and website should actually have been launched on January 11, but that has not happened until today.
When asked by the federal agency, they say that everything has been prepared and one is just waiting for the starting shot.
According to a spokeswoman for the German Association of Cities, there is still discussion, among other things, of who is liable if voluntary helpers carry out tests incorrectly.
The volunteers should all be trained, but whether they also need to have medical knowledge is still open.
If a tested person receives a false negative result and is therefore allowed into the home as corona-positive, this could have serious consequences.
Damaged people could sue for damages, for example from the volunteer or the home.
Medical lawyer Adrian Schmidt-Recla thinks this is unlikely.
After all, it is almost impossible to prove in retrospect that a person was actually infectious at the time of the test: “The potential liability cases will be very few.” This means a low risk for the volunteers, but the homes could also exempt them from liability .
That would be regulated in individual employment contracts rather than nationwide, so Schmidt-Recla.
The solution to a second point of controversy could be more complicated: Who is actually suitable as a volunteer for taking rapid tests?
Medical professional law is a matter for the federal states, and the federal states have set different requirements in their test regulations.
The state of North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, writes in a general decree that testers must “have basic nursing or medical knowledge” in addition to training.
In the test ordinance of the state of Lower Saxony, on the other hand, it says that "other assistants without a relevant vocational training background" may also test after receiving appropriate instruction.
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Corona rapid test in a retirement home in Tübingen in November 2020
Photo: Sebastian Gollnow / dpa
In some federal states, the test regulations would have to be changed if you want to recruit volunteers who have no medical background.
If, on the other hand, one assumes such a background, fewer people would come into question - and those who have the appropriate knowledge may also work in their profession and are not available during the crisis.
"Such a test is also an invasion of privacy, and not everyone is suitable for it," says Michael Noll of Alexa Senior Services, "but people with a nursing background actually have enough to do at the moment."
Until all discrepancies have been resolved, up to 10,000 Bundeswehr soldiers are to support the homes with the rapid tests, and volunteers will then gradually replace the soldiers.
Districts and urban districts submit applications for administrative assistance if homes have notified them of their need.
According to the Bundeswehr, 314 soldiers have been deployed to the rapid test so far, a total of 36 applications have been received so far, around 15 are still being processed (as of January 22).
According to the Ministry of Defense, the soldiers should be trained, and the authority or institution that applied for administrative assistance should be liable.
Charlotte Bellin has not yet applied.
“You have to work out a request like this, at the moment there is basically not even time for that.” Because vaccinations were just being carried out in her home, and in addition to the vaccination support, declarations of consent had to be obtained from all residents and carers.
The volunteer initiative would also be an organizational challenge for her, said Bellin.
“A large part of our time is already involved in coordinating tests.
We have to plan and document all of this, it's an incredibly high administrative burden. ”At the moment, it is still unclear whether they still need any support at all.
Her home has been recruiting volunteers since the start of mandatory testing in December.
"We're trying to get help ourselves."
Two Alexa senior services homes, on the other hand, have already registered a need, but are still waiting for an answer.
Michael Noll is happy about the support, even if he thinks that the initiative comes late: “The corona pandemic has not only existed for a week.
I would have wished that precautions had been taken in the summer months when there was a bit of a respite. "
His facilities are already in the process of employing helpers for the rapid tests themselves.
We'll have to wait and see if we will even need the volunteers in a few weeks.
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