On March 15, the facility-related vaccination obligation is to come into force in Germany, according to which staff in medical facilities such as hospitals must be vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to be allowed to work. But the German Hospital Association (DKG) is already sounding the alarm about the massive shortage of nurses that will arise in 2021 has further sharpened.
According to the chairman of the DKG, Gerald Gaß, six percent of the positions in the normal wards of the hospitals remained vacant last year – in the intensive care units it was even twelve percent. Every eighth specialist position in the intensive care units has not been filled due to a lack of staff: According to this, 8,000 positions are open there. In turn, there are around 14,000 positions on the normal stations. It will take an average of several months in 2021 until a skilled worker could be hired: the average for intensive skilled workers was 21 weeks; In the case of registered nurses for normal wards, it took an average of 17 weeks before a position could be filled.
Gaß stated literally:
We have practically no reserves to compensate for staff shortages.
Gass leads the worsening of the shortage of personnel in the past year among other things back to itthat the baby boom cohorts went into retirement or early retirement. Nurses also stayed longer on parental leave and then part-time. In addition, nurses would increasingly move from the cities to the countryside due to high rents. Work overload also plays a role.
The poor working conditions in nursing were obviously just as unclear as the fact that the shortage of nurses is likely to reach a sad climax in March 2022 when the facility-related vaccination requirement comes into force. Because: Numerous employees in the medical field remain resistant and do not allow themselves to be blackmailed into the controversial Covid shot. Quite a few of them are preparing to sue. Others are currently quitting their jobs on their own initiative and turning their backs on the nursing profession. With its compulsory vaccination, German politicians are consciously jeopardizing health care in Germany. In the meantime, nobody asks whether patients might prefer to be cared for by unvaccinated specialists rather than not at all.
