Bottlenecks due to expensive temporary work: why homes leave care beds unoccupied

According to research by Report Mainz, care facilities do not occupy beds, although there is great demand. The reasons for this are the shortage of skilled workers and the increasing use of expensive temporary workers.

In the pro-senior facility in Cochem, Rhineland-Palatinate, more than a fifth of the beds are not occupied. Residence director Margarete Vehrs has decided to significantly reduce the number of occupied beds. With this measure, according to Vehrs, almost all residents could be cared for by permanent staff.

Currently, 15 of the 70 beds in the home are not occupied. “Many colleagues do that too,” said Vehrs in an interview Report Mainz. The use of expensive temporary workers can be significantly reduced.

Payers do not assume additional charges

According to the director, the use of a temporary worker would result in monthly costs of over 10,000 euros in the Cochem facility. For comparable permanent nursing staff, only around 4300 euros would have to be estimated.

Temporary workers for home providers are problematic because the additional costs are not refinanced by the cost bearers. “In macroeconomic terms, a house can perish as a result,” said Vehrs. She currently employs four temporary workers.

Up to 1000 euros net more per month

More and more nurses are switching to temporary work. According to the Federal Employment Agency, there were around 12,000 in 2018 and 17,000 in 2022. Temporary employment agencies sometimes offer caregivers significantly higher pay and better working conditions than permanent professionals.

Temporary workers can earn up to 1000 euros more net per month, get a company car and influence the rosters. This privileging of temporary workers repeatedly leads to tensions among permanent staff. The permanent nurses often feel like second-class employees.

There is a risk of a shortage of care in the elderly

The social scientist Stefan Sell from the Koblenz University of Applied Sciences has dealt intensively with the problem of temporary workers in care. He thinks the home operators’ decision to reduce staff to avoid having to use temporary workers was the right one. “However, this will mean that many families will no longer be able to get a place in a nursing home for their relatives in the years to come,” he says.

How is the federal government reacting to this development? Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach and Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil answered the question of how they intend to curb temporary work in geriatric care and ensure the care of old people and people in need of care Report Mainz in common: “Various measures have already been agreed” to “reduce the number of temporary workers”.

According to the ministers, the coalition agreement contains further measures: for example the “abolition of shared services, the introduction of the carrier’s own pool of volunteers and family-friendly working hours”. In addition, the so-called “personnel assessment procedure for care facilities” will be implemented. “In a first step, the financing of 13,000 additional specialist and 20,000 additional assistant positions in long-term care was made possible. From July 1, 2023 (…) further specialists and assistants can also be agreed.”

Criticism of government measures

The measures planned by the federal government are completely inadequate, criticizes social scientist Sell. The 13,000 additional nursing staff mentioned in the response from the ministries had already been mentioned in 2018: “Many of these 13,000 positions promised at the time have not yet been filled, simply because there are no nursing staff quite cheeky,” says Sell.

The topic of “temporary work in nursing” is now being taken up in a study commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Health. The results would be published promptly, said a ministry spokeswoman.