Shocking test results: Elderly care homes in Schleswig-Holstein fail!
Shocking test results: Elderly care homes in Schleswig-Holstein fail!
Lübeck, Deutschland - What is going on in geriatric care in Schleswig-Holstein? According to a current report by the State Audit Office, the senior care homes are only insufficiently checked. In 2023, only 358 of 575 geriatric care facilities were inspected - this corresponds to a worrying test rate of only 62 percent. Control plays a crucial role in ensuring the protection of people in need of care, but the low test rate raises serious concerns. The differences between the regions are striking: While over 96 % of the facilities were checked in Segeberg, Ostholstein and Kiel, the odds in Steinburg are only 26 % and only 21 % in Lübeck. KN-Online reports .
The situation in Lübeck is particularly alarming: every full -time force for 1544 home places is responsible here. In comparison, a specialist in Kiel is available for almost 580 places, while in Rendsburg-Eckernförde only 470 places per employee have to be overlooked. The lack of personnel in the supervisory authorities was identified as the main reason for the lack of controls. The Ministry of Social Affairs, which is responsible for the specialist supervision, recognizes these problems and emphasizes the need that each inpatient facility must be checked annually. It is planned to reduce the scope of the exam to the core of the order, which should not remedy the existing defects.
The challenges from practice
The difficulties of geriatric care are not only included in terms of number. Esther Schweizer described her mother's desperate situation in a Hamburg nursing home, where she was no longer able to hold a spoon or fork and finally tried to eat with her hands. Such experience reports are not an isolated case. Former nurses, such as Martina Schmidt, report that residents often take a long time for simple things, such as drinking a glass. The time is in short supply, and there is not enough rooms for individual care. NDR reports .
The home supervision, which is ultimately responsible for the control of the nursing homes, must carry out exams annually in order to protect the dignity and needs of the residents. Defects can lead from advice to temporary closures. However, the test rates in northern Germany show that sometimes no more than half of the necessary controls are carried out. A worrying example is Hamburg, where the test quota was only 8 % in 2016 and only increased to 22 % in 2017.
political measures and future reports
In view of these challenges, the Ministry of Social Affairs has announced that the scope of controls reduce. The current test catalog comprises 59 pages and also addresses the self -determination of those in need of care and complaint management. The quality of care is a central topic that is examined not only by the supervisory authorities, but also by the medical service of the health insurance (MDK). This carries out quality tests every two years, now also increasingly with regard to the corona pandemic, which has severely restricted the exams in 2021.The upcoming care quality report will be published in early 2025 and could offer new insights into the data collected so far from 2023, while the last report from May 2024 provided exciting findings on the challenges of the pandemic years. It remains to be seen whether the problems in Schleswig-Holstein are adequately addressed. The fact is: there is still a lot to do here to improve the future of elderly care in Germany.
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| Ort | Lübeck, Deutschland |
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