From March 16th, vaccinations will be compulsory in the healthcare system.
Experts fear a wave of layoffs.
Employers in Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen want to prevent this with persuasion.
Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen – There is currently a heated discussion as to whether vaccination should become compulsory. It will soon be mandatory for employees in health, nursing and care facilities. From March 16, they will only be allowed to work in this area if they are vaccinated against the coronavirus or have recovered. Quite a few experts fear a wave of layoffs that will make the acute nursing shortage even worse.
The employment agency responsible for the district in Rosenheim is covered.
It is not possible to say whether a tsunami of layoffs is to be expected, "because we do not know and cannot assess how employers will behave from March 16," says CEO Michael Schankweiler.
It also remains to be seen how the affected employees in the care sector would decide with regard to the regulations that will apply from mid-March.
BRK leader misses appreciation from Berlin
Helmut Kulla heads the social services department in the district association of the Bavarian Red Cross (BRK) in Bad Tölz, which includes the outpatient care offered by the BRK. He takes politics to task: "We would have been very happy if, after the nursing staff had been declared 'heroes of the pandemic', the federal government had also followed up with concrete measures to increase the attractiveness and appreciation of the nursing professions in order to prevent a migration of nursing staff to avoiding other professions and counteracting the nursing shortage.” Unfortunately, this did not happen. The BRK itself tries to offer its employees “the best possible conditions within the scope of our possibilities as an employer”. This generally applies regardless of the current pandemic situation.
One is relatively relaxed in the Wolfratshausen AWO dementia center. "We are grateful and in the fortunate position that we already have a very high vaccination rate among our employees here in the company," says Linda Quadflieg-Kraft, Head of Corporate Communications at Arbeiterwohlfahrt (AWO) Oberbayern. Individuals have not yet been vaccinated for personal reasons, but there is “an intensive exchange” with them. One hopes to be able to “convince them, for example through our company doctor, to get vaccinated”.
The fact that there is a shortage of nursing staff has not only been an issue since the Corona crisis.
The AWO Oberbayern is trying to counteract this negative trend.
For years, employees have been offered an attractive package of benefits with fair wages, additional social benefits and family-friendly working time models," says Quadflieg-Kraft.
That's why she assumes "that exits due to the upcoming vaccination obligation will be kept within limits".
Clinic spokesman finds selective vaccination unfair
The team at the Asklepios City Clinic in Bad Tölz has provided outpatient and inpatient care to over 1000 Covid patients since the outbreak of the pandemic, including 120 intensive care patients. Not to mention all the other patients. "The commitment and motivation with which the teams face this challenge is admirable," says clinic spokesman Christopher Horn.
Unfortunately, the burden is still high.
This was and is also due to the fact that a large number of inpatient corona patients are not fully or not at all vaccinated.
"Full vaccination protection and a corresponding booster vaccination are not only the best protection against a severe or even fatal course of the disease, also in view of the new Omikron variant, but the only way out of the pandemic," says Horn.
The staff obviously sees it that way too.
“We benefit from a very high vaccination rate among our staff.
Around 90 percent are currently fully vaccinated and a large proportion of them have already been boosted.” Of course, his company continues to promote vaccinations among employees and makes corresponding offers.
Terminations can affect all areas of the clinic
The clinic spokesman finds it unfair that the obligation to provide evidence of full vaccination or recovery only applies to employees in the nursing profession. It is "not right to carry out this debate on the backs of colleagues who take care of the well-being of patients or ensure smooth hospital operations every day." Every individual citizen should ask themselves how they can contribute to the end of the pandemic and thus the employees in the health care system, “who self-sacrificingly take care of all vaccinated and unvaccinated patients on a daily basis”.
Ingo Kühn, managing director of the district clinic in Wolfratshausen, “of course expects employees who do not want to be vaccinated to be fired”. However, this does not only affect the nursing staff, but all areas of a clinic, since the vaccination obligation applies to all employees. According to Kühn, the aim is “not to have to accept any layoffs”. The strategy of the clinic management: The vaccination status of the employees is currently being updated. They would then be informed of the new regulations in a letter and offered a personal, confidential conversation on the subject of Covid vaccination with a chief or company doctor. Because there is a lot of uncertainty about this topic. According to Kühn, the goal is for employees “to be able to discuss their fears and concerns about a Covid vaccination with a doctor.Our hope is that one or the other employee will still be vaccinated.”
The district clinic counters the shortage of skilled workers in the health care system, regardless of the pandemic and compulsory vaccination, with the constant search for new employees.
“We also train nurses ourselves so that we can fill vacancies in the future,” says the managing director.
In addition, the house on Moosbauerweg takes part in various programs "to be able to recruit foreign skilled workers.
They have to be vaccinated when they start work anyway”.
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