As of: February 8, 2024, 8:00 a.m
By: Richard Lorenz
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Described the precarious situation: Walburga Braun gave a lecture at the district self-help group in Freising.
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Nursing places in retirement homes have become scarce.
An expert is certain that it will no longer be possible without the help of relatives.
Freising
– The nursing shortage is not a new issue: there has been a lack of nursing specialists in hospitals and retirement homes for years.
What is relatively new, however, is that care after a hospital stay or for people who need nursing support at home is increasingly likely to no longer be guaranteed.
Walburga Braun, who worked for a long time in the social services at the Freising Clinic, summarized it as follows during a specialist lecture for the cancer self-help group on duty: “I can no longer guarantee that an outpatient care service will come.
Those days are over".
Of ups and downs
After decades of working at the Freising Clinic, Walburga Braun knows all the ups and downs of care.
However, what she experienced after the corona pandemic surprised even her, because many things that were once taken for granted now appear to be in danger of being overturned.
Because new employees currently have to be trained in the social service, she returned to the clinic after her retirement as a 450-euro worker - where she looked after the needs of discharged patients for 15 years.
A change that she described impressively: “I can no longer guarantee a short-term care place or an outpatient care service – at least not in a timely manner.”
According to Braun, some patients at the Freising Clinic are currently having longer stays - simply because further care and transfer cannot be clarified - or this is very slow.
“This is known and has been like this for some time,” confirmed Sascha Alexander, press spokesman for the Freising Clinic.
The reasons for this are simple: The nursing shortage, according to Braun, has now reached “practice”, including in retirement homes and outpatient services, while the need for care and the number of people requiring care are increasing.
The problem,
A big problem, according to Braun: On average, nursing staff only stay in nursing for around 14 years and only eight years in senior care, after which they are often dismissed for various reasons such as lack of appreciation.
“And at home, the patient's relatives are at work or are very old themselves,” explained Braun, which is why the patient cannot be discharged from the hospital - or only at a later date.
But what can a solution look like?
“The relatives have to actively search – be it for a nursing service, a short-term care place or a care place in a retirement home.
And they have to look for a network,” says Braun – or simply provide support at home.
Help actively
In addition to the well-known offers such as the Freising care center, Ulrike Schön has been able to establish herself as an independent and neutral care companion in the cathedral city.
She was also there on Tuesday to briefly present her offer.
Their goal: Seniors should live in their own four walls for as long as possible, which is certainly possible with an individually tailored network of care, assistance and therapy offers.
But here too, according to Braun, one thing is fundamentally important: “We need relatives who pitch in.”
What she also addressed: the possibility of so-called 24-hour care.
“It's a huge market that is completely quiet - you hardly notice anything,” was her assessment, which also included: “Not everyone likes something like that.”
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The desire
Neighborhood helpers can also be brought on board.
However, one thing must be clear: “There is no cleaning and no maintenance.”
In principle, relatives, but also seniors, should find out about offers of help early enough.
There are many contact points in this regard, such as Ulrike Schön or the district's nursing bases.
What Braun wants for Freising per se, she is currently implementing in Attenkirchen with like-minded people: a lunch table for seniors.
In doing so, she wants to take a stand against the issue of “isolation”.
“We then cook ourselves. The other day we had liver and blood sausages because that’s what they all wanted,” said Braun.
But she also reported a touching situation when an older lady suddenly said: “The best thing about eating is that today is the first time I have someone to talk to.”
That's what the clinic says
“The clinics have been under the pressure of delayed transfers for a long time,” reports Freising clinic spokesman Sascha Alexander.
The reason: Since 2017, clinics have been obliged to ensure that patients receive the necessary further care after their stay in the clinic.
“Many rehabilitation facilities have closed, especially during Corona the pressure was enormous,” says Alexander.
That’s why social services have to “make their fingers sore on the phone.”
The hospital spokesman’s sobering summary: “It’s becoming increasingly dramatic.
There is a lack of space and hospitals have to keep patients.
This can take a long time.
It’s just coming to a head and it’s quite a catastrophe.”