"Humiliated and insulted": RTL program shows abuses in the retirement home
Created: 06/26/2022, 02:00 p.m
By: Joerg Paulus
The Alloheim senior citizens' residence Ederbergland on Wilhelmstraße in Frankenberg was the subject of the RTL program "Team Wallraff".
A reporter had worked as an undercover intern with a hidden camera in the home and exposed some grievances and problems in the care.
© Joerg Paulus
In the RTL program "Team Wallraff", undercover journalists show abuses in old people's and nursing homes.
One of them is a retirement home in Frankenberg.
Frankenberg – In the television show “Team Wallraff – Now more than ever” on Thursday, June 23, on RTL, undercover journalists showed grievances in old people’s and nursing homes.
One of them is the Ederbergland senior citizens' residence in Frankenberg.
According to the ratings, 1.62 million viewers watched the show on Thursday evening.
The Frankenberger retirement home on Wilhelmstraße belongs to the Alloheim Group, which according to RTL is the second largest private provider in Germany and operates 242 homes.
When asked by HNA, an Alloheim spokesman said on Friday that there are currently 132 residents living in the facility in Frankenberg and 28 in assisted living;
a total of 141 employees work there, as reported by hna.de.
According to Günter Wallraff, Alloheim had already attracted negative attention in a first broadcast by his team in February.
As a result, the journalists received a number of "cries for help" - including from a nurse at the Alloheim in Frankenberg: "I can no longer answer for the whole thing.
It goes against all my values.
I have to see how they are constantly suffering,” the unnamed man wrote to the television team about the conditions in the Frankenberg home, reads Günter Wallraff.
Reporter as an intern undercover in Frankenberger retirement home
For the current show, a reporter therefore worked undercover as an intern for six days in the Alloheim retirement home in Frankenberg – i.e. without identifying himself as a journalist.
For example, in the hidden-camera segment, an old man waiting for a catheter can be seen urinating on his bed.
"Pissing all over the bed.
Wonderfully done.
You really tried hard, ”comments a nurse.
It was "a scandal", says the care expert Andrea Würtz, who was interviewed by RTL, how the resident was "humiliated, degraded and insulted".
"In terms of nursing, this is unacceptable." In view of the pictures shown, she is ashamed of her profession.
Investigative journalist Günter Wallraff (left) also spoke to Health Minister Karl Lauterbach about the undercover recordings from retirement homes.
© RTL
"What a mess!
Like in kindergarten!” says a caregiver in another scene after a resident had a mishap while drinking coffee.
The undercover intern reports that during the six days he often experienced "rough handling" by nursing staff with residents.
A resident tells him that she no longer dares to reach out when she needs help.
"Can't you make an effort so that we don't all break down," asks another resident of the intern.
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"It's unbelievable how brutal and inhuman the way these forces treat these residents.
And they have to be held accountable for that,” is the assessment of the expert on the incidents in the Frankenberg retirement home.
"Team Wallraff" (RTL) in a retirement home in northern Hesse: Incontinence pads and corona test spatulas were missing
The article shows other problems and grievances in the home.
Among other things, one morning there were said to be no more spatulas for employee corona tests - that's why nurses went to the residents without being tested.
Several times there were no fresh documents for incontinent residents.
And the bandage car was parked in the staff toilet.
The undercover intern concludes that he has the impression that many problems are dumped on the backs of the residents.
The residents had to endure a lot.
The nurses sometimes seemed overwhelmed to him, he had experienced frustration and aggression almost every day.
Statements from Alloheim on RTL
In the RTL report, statements from the Alloheim Group on the individual incidents in the Frankenberg retirement home are displayed.
Basically, the company rejects the allegations or states that it has no knowledge of the "supposed alleged incidents".
Among other things it says:
“Basically, we attach great importance to treating the residents entrusted to us with respect and dignity.
Any other behavior by the employees towards our residents will not be accepted.
(....) We reject the blanket assumption contained in your questions that frustration and aggression towards residents are 'on the agenda' in our facility in Frankenberg."
"The assumption that there is a 'poor stock' of incontinence material in our facility in Frankenberg and that towels or linen bags are used as a substitute is wrong."
"The (...) allegation of an alleged lack of corona self-tests (...) in our facility in Frankenberg are wrong.
It is correct: (...) There were and are sufficient rapid tests available at all times and accessible to the employees."
"Team Wallraff" (RTL): That's what Alloheim says about the allegations
The HNA has asked operator Alloheim for a statement on the allegations from the RTL contribution.
A spokesman for the Alloheim Senior Residences told our newspaper on Friday, June 24:
"In the RTL program 'Team Wallraff – Now more than ever!'
of June 23, 2022, with the help of suggestive and selectively edited video material, an overall false impression of the actual conditions in our facilities was given.
The article presents situations in a distorted way, generalizes individual cases and omits information that we had given the broadcaster.
We disagree with this misleading representation.
RTL thus puts the actual work of our approximately 22,000 employees and the quality of care and support in our more than 240 facilities in the wrong light.
As a matter of principle, we investigate every complaint and every indication of violations of our clear quality specifications.
Deviations from our clear and binding specifications will not be tolerated by Alloheim and will be remedied immediately as soon as we become aware of them.
Accordingly, weeks before the broadcast, we asked the broadcaster several times to give us specific information on the allegations made by the editors so that we can examine them and implement improvements if necessary.
'Team Wallraff' has refused to give us this specification despite repeated requests.
We will now immediately examine specific individual cases that we only became aware of through the post.
If necessary, we will take consistent measures to ensure a consistently high level of care and support in the facility concerned.
In some cases, the program showed individual human errors in dealing with residents in our facility in Frankenberg, which we deeply regret.
An Alloheim speaker
In some cases, the program showed individual human errors in dealing with residents in our facility in Frankenberg, which we deeply regret.
We take this very seriously.
We will immediately take the necessary steps to prevent such incidents, which we only became aware of from the post.
Therefore, representatives of the management team were already on site in Frankenberg, who are currently analyzing the situation in discussions with the employees on site.
Based on this, we will derive appropriate measures at very short notice.
Our goal is and remains to ensure a consistently high quality of care in all facilities.
Many of the facilities discussed in the program have made significant progress in terms of the quality of care and support.
We had also informed the broadcaster of this, providing specific information.
'Team Wallraff' has omitted essential parts of this information.
'Team Wallraff' wrongly insinuates in its article that Alloheim allegedly saves on personnel and material in order to maximize profits.
The opposite is the case: The satisfaction of our residents, high-quality care and staffing that meets the requirements, even against the background of the well-known shortage of skilled workers in care, remain the benchmark for our actions and are a prerequisite for our lasting success." (Jörg Paulus )
It is not the first time that Günter Wallraff has addressed the conditions in nursing homes.