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Claus Fussek sums up the care situation: "No one seems to care"

2022-05-17T07:02:27.019Z


Claus Fussek sums up the care situation: "No one seems to care" Created: 05/17/2022, 09:00 By: Andreas Steppan "Lawyer and advocate for people in need of care": Bavaria's Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (left) awards Claus Fussek the "White Angel". © Stmgp The care expert Claus Fussek criticized the care system for 40 years. In an interview with the Tölzer Kurier, he draws a sobering conclusi


Claus Fussek sums up the care situation: "No one seems to care"

Created: 05/17/2022, 09:00

By: Andreas Steppan

"Lawyer and advocate for people in need of care": Bavaria's Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (left) awards Claus Fussek the "White Angel".

© Stmgp

The care expert Claus Fussek criticized the care system for 40 years.

In an interview with the Tölzer Kurier, he draws a sobering conclusion. 

Lenggries –

Minister of Health Klaus Holetschek described Claus Fussek as a “lawyer and advocate for old people and people in need of care” and recently awarded him the “White Angel” – an award for “exemplary people who have been volunteering in the health and care sector for many years”.

The care expert from Lenggries has been working "for the dignity of senior citizens and people with disabilities as well as for better conditions in care" for 40 years and is "an important mouthpiece for those in need of care and their relatives", it said in the laudatory speech.

Klaus Holetschek awards Fussek the "White Angels".

Shortly before, on February 1st, Fussek had officially retired.

Despite the high level of recognition, in an interview with the Tölzer Kurier, Fussek describes his commitment as an "analysis of failure".

Mr. Fussek, what does the “White Angel” award mean to you?

Actually, my wife Ute should have gotten the prize, because you can only do a job like this if your partner is behind it.

Personally, I don't value awards.

I used to ask my friend Dieter Hildebrandt for advice.

He would have said: "Accept the award, it's for the topic." Maybe it's a way to bring the topic of care back to the public.

You retired two months ago.

How are you with that?

It's still unfamiliar.

The inquiries and topics have of course become fewer – but I still get calls for help every day and have a number of conversations, so I rather call it restlessness.

Before I had a seven-day job, I was always available, even in the football stadium I was approached: "Help me." I no longer go to the office every day, but instead work mostly at home.

Despite retirement, daily calls for help

But there are still a few things to be arranged, such as the transfer of your archive.

Yes.

Over the decades, I have received around 50,000 calls for help from people in need of care, relatives and nursing staff.

I collected the letters, e-mails, telephone notes and many photos in 200 to 250 files.

Of course I could have shredded all that with my retirement.

But on the other hand, it is probably Germany's, if not Europe's, largest archive on the subject of care.

I don't want to sound pathetic, but you can say it's a kind of life's work, it was my life's work anyway.

It has to be said that very few of those affected dared to complain.

A grievance that was described to me usually affected an entire nursing home, i.e. 20, 30, 40 times more people.

The extrapolated figures come out that you don't even want to imagine.

What happens to it now?

I'm glad the Robert Bosch Foundation got in touch.

The folders will go to Stuttgart at the end of May and will be scientifically processed.

Do you otherwise have the impression that the content of your archive is attracting enough interest?

no

Nobody seems to be interested in the people these files are about.

And that, although it is our parents and grandparents - and someday it will be us ourselves.

Everyone knows what is happening in our nursing homes.

I was able to prove all the grievances that I made public.

But the only reaction I usually heard was: "It's true what you say" - but nobody wanted to say it out loud.

Why not?

Dependencies play a big role here.

Two-thirds of my whistleblowers were nurses — but 95 percent of them have asked me to remain anonymous.

Nobody wanted to be the polluter.

Bullying among colleagues is a big problem in the nursing field.

And relatives are afraid that their parents will have to pay for their care if they complain.

You have to let that melt in your mouth.

Nursing homes should actually be shelters, this is about the most vulnerable people of all.

The people who work there have to say: I take care of these people who are entrusted to me and at my mercy.

Everyone who works in healthcare has a code of ethics that puts the patient first.

In reality, however, the nursing staff are too few and overwhelmed,

Fussek: "No one seems to care"

And why don't relatives rebel more?

Relatives who reach their limits because they cannot provide care at home only have the choice between plague and cholera.

The greater their desperation, the lower the demands become.

Good homes have a waiting list.

At some point you no longer ask: Is the nursing home good or bad?

Just one more thing: do you have a bed available?

How could the situation be improved?

The first premise is to finally name the grievances honestly.

It doesn't help to dress it up and put it into perspective with platitudes like: "Not everything is bad." We urgently need an early warning system.

Everyone can see for themselves what the nursing home in their place of residence looks like.

Anyone who regularly visits their mother or father in the home - but that was only 10 percent even before Corona - should look closely, be honest, address problems and consider with the home management what can be improved together.

Which may not always go down well with the home management.

. 

.

I'm quoting a friend of mine who says: "If I haven't received a complaint by 12 noon, I get queasy." And: "There are no difficult relatives." Only those I call "the heirs" do hardly ever show up in the home, they are enthusiastic about everything.

But if I have committed relatives and volunteers who care and look after me, then I don't need a home supervisor or a medical service as a control body.

Common sense is enough, because the needs of those in need of care can hardly be surpassed in modesty: eat, drink, go to the toilet, get out into the fresh air, talk, that someone will comfort you and that you are not alone in the hour of death.

Big problem: bullying among nursing staff

And yet even seemingly simple things seem to be lacking.

I can no longer hear my own arguments.

It makes me think that, as one of the richest countries, we are not able to guarantee at least palliative care for everyone.

The topic of care is subject to collective suppression.

That's why, looking back on my work, I speak of an analysis of failure.

My message hasn't changed in 40 years.

What else is part of the early warning system you described?

This includes facilities with a fear-free working atmosphere and volunteers who care.

I find the association “Just a little time” in Lenggries, for example, to be exemplary.

It also needs a mayor and council to prioritize care and the elderly, and a local newspaper to report on it regularly.

But the nursing staff are also demanding improvements, above all higher pay and more recognition.

When nurses demand more appreciation, I say: How much more?

It's the only profession that always gets praise.

Nobody disagrees that nursing staff should be better paid and have better working conditions, you don't have to take to the streets for that.

But then you have to be honest and say that someone has to pay for it.

Then, of course, the care place would cost significantly more.

Apart from that, we have collective bargaining autonomy in Germany, and politicians are not allowed to interfere at all.

If the nurses were more solidarity with each other, they could do more.

However, less than ten percent of them are unionized.

Apart from that, the equation that good pay automatically means better care falls short of the mark.

Nursing staff have also demonstrated against the facility-related compulsory vaccination and feel discriminated against by it.

Do you understand?

no

When you work with vulnerable people, you have a responsibility.

It is part of the nursing profession's code of ethics that patient safety is paramount.

This also includes the corona vaccination.

I don't understand the discussion there.

When nurses say: "I don't work under compulsory vaccination", in my opinion they are primarily concerned with exercising power.

Overall, we should not always discuss the topic of care only from the point of view of the nurses.

They are not the ones who are the victims here.

Your summary is sobering.

Is that correct?

Well, I've always said: before anything changes in nursing, the church will abolish celibacy.

Now the church seems to me to be further than nursing.

I've heard a lot of scandals in nursing homes and I've gone public with them.

Unfortunately, to this day I have the impression that nobody is interested.

This was evident from the example of Schliersee, public interest was limited.

At least I can say: Everyone knows - now there is no longer a need for Fussek.

My bottom line is: We have to get out of the vale of tears, finally be honest and realize that sooner or later the issue will affect us all.

But due to the fact that there are of course also exemplary homes and municipalities that take responsibility for the older generation, I am not giving up.

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Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-05-17

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