Serious crisis in Schwerin: premature baby care at risk due to a lack of staff!

Serious crisis in Schwerin: premature baby care at risk due to a lack of staff!

There is an alarming mood in the Helios Clinics in Schwerin, one of the largest hospitals in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. There has been increasing unrest for months, endangering the care of extremely small premature babies in particular. That reports Northern Courier. The background is the layoffs of service employees, whose tasks now have to be taken over by nursing staff. This increase in personnel leads to a worrying situation on the wards.

The children's clinic is particularly affected, as it has reached its limit. Nurses and doctors have written an open letter drawing attention to the understaffed wards. Criticism also comes from the political side: Thomas de Jesus Fernandes, AfD member of the state parliament, calls for urgent political action and points out that despite a group profit of 5.1 million euros in the first quarter of 2025, the quality of patient care is suffering.

Staff shortages and layoffs

In addition to the layoffs of service employees, the clinic is struggling with a growing staff shortage. So reported Schwerin.News that between 50 and 60 employees of a subsidiary lost their jobs. This has a noticeable impact because nursing staff now have to take on tasks that were previously carried out by service employees, such as serving meals and making beds. There is currently uncertainty: the clinic management assures that there are no operational layoffs, but many employees are unsettled.

The problems in human resources are not new. A “skill mix” model was introduced, in which teams of differently qualified personnel share the work. However, these measures cannot solve the acute challenges in everyday hospital life. Layoffs and fixed-term contracts are coming to an end, which in turn means that Winston Ziegler, an employee, has had to give up his job in order to accept a form of temporary employment. Many nurses are overloaded by the additional tasks and report long waiting times and frustration among patients.

Political reactions and future prospects

The political reaction to the grievances is not long in coming. The AfD parliamentary group plans to discuss the issue in the social committee and is calling for a report from the state government on the current conditions in the children's clinic. In contrast to the open letter, Helios managing director Thomas Rupp states that the staffing plan in the children's clinic has been exceeded by four medical and six nursing positions, and that there has been a 25 percent increase in staff since 2018. In addition, 30 additional nursing staff were hired.

The clinic has once again invested in improving the infrastructure, such as a new telephone system, computer-assisted surgical technology and a new X-ray machine. But despite these investments, the question remains as to how the security of care for patients can be guaranteed. The uncertainty is almost tangible and offers a glimpse of the challenges the healthcare system is currently experiencing. The current situation in Schwerin in particular creates an urgent need for sustainable solutions and a comprehensive discussion about the health workforce in Germany. Health workforce data and trends show a continued worrisome situation Destatis informed.