Revolution in nursing: New law improves working conditions!

Revolution in nursing: New law improves working conditions!

In a step towards better working conditions in nursing, the Nursing Personnel Strengthening Act (PpSG) was introduced on January 1, 2019. The aim is to improve the situation for nursing staff and combat the shortage of staff in nursing and geriatric care. As MDR reports, the law is intended not only to improve working conditions, but also to ensure the quality of care in hospitals. A central concern is the clear separation of nursing tasks and other activities in the hospital, which often take up the nurses' valuable time.

The PpSG is part of the federal government's so-called “immediate care program”, which aims to relieve the burden on nursing staff and recruit additional staff. Over the last few years, 13,000 new jobs have already been created in inpatient care facilities, which should represent a welcome improvement. Caring relatives should also benefit by having easier access to rehabilitation measures, even if these are not medically necessary.

Specifically improvements through the PpSG

The main changes to the PpSG include the introduction of new minimum staffing levels in care facilities, which are intended to ensure that enough nursing staff are available:

• Bis zu 40 Bewohner: 0,5 neue Pflegestellen
• 41 bis 80 Bewohner: 1 neue Pflegestelle
• 81 bis 120 Bewohner: 1,5 neue Pflegestellen
• Über 120 Bewohner: 2 neue Pflegestellen

Another important measure is the billing of nursing staff costs via a separate nursing budget, which since 2020 has guaranteed, independent of the general hospital budget, that the financing is used specifically for nursing staff. Nursing staff should no longer be used for external tasks such as administration. These regulations could help to actually implement the promised improvement in conditions.

Criticism and challenges

Despite the positive approaches, the reality looks more complex. Critics warn that the 13,000 new positions mentioned can only have an impact if enough people want to enter the nursing profession. Concerns have also been raised that the introduction of minimum staffing levels could lead to some facilities having to close their care places due to insufficient resources. In this context, there is also great concern that hospitals could poach nursing staff from inpatient facilities, which would place additional strain on the nursing situation.

The Pflegeportal.de emphasizes that digitalization also plays a role in nursing. The PpSG promotes digital solutions with grants of up to 12,000 euros to improve the technical requirements in the facilities. Modernizing the way we work could help reduce the workload of nurses and increase the quality of care.

In summary, it can be seen that the PpSG contains promising approaches to improving care, but at the same time there are clear challenges and criticisms that still need to be addressed. This is the only way the law can achieve its objectives and create the urgently needed improvements in the care industry.