Country pays for foreign nurses

Created: 08/17/2022 11:59 am

A nurse applies a compression bandage in outpatient care.

© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa/symbol picture

Nursing staff is desperately needed in Baden-Württemberg.

Reinforcement comes from abroad.

However, there are not only problems with the recognition of qualifications, but also with the language.

This is where the country wants to start and is getting a partner on board.

Stuttgart - In the search for additional nursing staff from abroad, Baden-Württemberg wants to work more closely with the Federal Employment Agency and invest in language courses.

Health Minister Manne Lucha announced on Wednesday in Stuttgart that the state would finance language courses for foreign nurses in their country of origin with one million euros.

In addition, Baden-Württemberg will take part in a federal agency program in the future, with which nursing professionals from countries such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Tunisia, Jordan and the Philippines are to be recruited.

As part of the “Triple Win” program launched in 2013, potential employees are prepared in their home countries for future assignments in German nursing homes.

They are supported by supervisors with the recognition of their foreign qualifications as well as with their integration into their German workplace.

The main aim is to ensure that people are recruited in a legally and morally impeccable manner and that the countries of origin also benefit.

A requirement for "Triple Win" is that there should be no shortage of nursing staff in the countries of origin.

"Language skills already acquired in the country of origin facilitate the process of integration into the labor market for interested foreign specialists as well as for the participating institutions and care facilities in the state," said Christian Rauch, head of the regional office in Baden-Württemberg.

Smaller care providers in particular could benefit from this.

The German professional association for nursing professions also sees language as a prerequisite: "This is a communicative profession, language plays a central role there," said Andrea Kiefer, state chair.

But it is also important to take care of the helpers from abroad: "A supporting program is needed," said Kiefer of the dpa.

"If the nurses just come here and work, they're left alone, they don't integrate and they come back quickly."

The Frankfurt health economist Professor Thomas Busse speaks of a "complete package" that must be offered.

"You also have to play with open cards in the country and let people know what to expect." Training abroad is often more academic than the practical German approach.

The problem of a lack of workers must be solved above all in the industry: "The working conditions have to be better," said Busse.

Nursing staff suffered from rigid hierarchies, family-unfriendly rosters and too much bureaucracy.

“On average, a nurse only works in the profession for six to twelve years.

Employers need modern concepts and more incentives to keep them longer.” He sees additional levers in winning back employees who have left the company or getting part-time employees to work.

According to Luchas, around 1,700 nursing staff from abroad were given the green light to work in Germany based on their qualifications in 2020, and around 2,000 more have restricted permission because, for example, examinations are still missing.

The country hopes to recruit another 200 nurses through the “Triple Win” program.

But that's not enough, emphasized Lucha.

"We have to step up our efforts to recruit skilled workers and use all available levers because we have an incredibly high need for nursing professions," said the minister.

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From the point of view of the opposition AfD faction, Lucha is wrong: “If nobody wants to work in the care sector in a populous country like Germany, then you have to change the conditions in this area and not simply “recruit” workers from abroad in the worst colonial manner. "Said AfD faction leader Bernd Gögel.

In the end, the staff won will probably not stay long anyway.

"Nobody wants to work under such conditions - that's simply a fact," said Gögel.

Time is of the essence, because the situation in geriatric care in Baden-Württemberg is becoming more explosive than previously assumed, according to a forecast by the Barmer health insurance company.

By the year 2030, 710,000 people will be dependent on appropriate help, according to the health insurance company's latest care report.

That would be over a fifth more people who would then need help than previously thought.

At the same time, according to Barmer, thousands of nursing staff are missing.

Nationwide, experts even assume that around 150,000 additional nursing staff would be needed by 2025, said Vanessa Ahuja, Director of Services and International Affairs at the Federal Employment Agency.

dpa