Some time ago there was this one patient at the Ebersberger Kreisklinik, she had an appointment for a very important operation on the heart. Actually absolutely clear that you will keep such an appointment, right? Not so in this case: the woman asked for the appointment to be postponed. “Because she has not found a short-term care place for her disabled daughter,” said CSU District Councilor Marina Matjanovski. The experience that the nurse and department head of the cardiac catheter laboratory at the district clinic reported to the committee at the latest meeting of the Committee for Social Affairs, Family, Education, Sport and Culture (SFB) could not have better clarified the scope of a problem: In There are too few places for short-term or preventive care in the district of Ebersberg.
It is a problem that the district of Ebersberg is aware of, as the head of the demography team Jochen Specht said in the meeting – and that exists everywhere, not just in the district of Ebersberg or in the region. Attempts to create as many places as the inquiries from inpatient facilities would actually need have failed so far – mainly due to a lack of resources on the part of the nursing staff.
The topic of short-term care seemed to be close to the hearts of all those present; it was the aspect of the overall concept of senior citizenship that was discussed for the longest time. And everyone agreed: more places urgently need to be created.
But where exactly is the district? At the time of the survey, in 2019, there were eight permanent places in three inpatient care facilities and at least 62 other, non-permanent places in ten care homes, according to the concept. Compared to 2010, when the senior citizens policy concept was presented for the first time, eleven permanent places and irregular places in five institutions were available. Overall, the situation has definitely improved. But not enough.
Because: According to the report, the inquiries were “a lot higher than the number of people actually cared for in short-term care”. Six institutions have stated that they regularly have to reject such inquiries. The situation is particularly difficult for those affected with no care level or care level 1, since cost-covering services are only paid from care level 2 onwards.
“Short-term care is actually the key so that care by relatives can function at all,” said Christian Rindsfüßer from the Institute for Social Planning, Youth and Elderly Welfare, Health Research and Statistics (SAGS). Together with Sabine Wenng from the Working Group for Social Planning and Age Research (AfA), he presented the concept to the committee members. Ottilie Eberl (Greens) therefore asked the administration to investigate the causes: Why aren’t more institutions in the district ready to offer such urgently needed places? “I would like you to make that a top priority,” she said to District Administrator Robert Niedergesäß (CSU).
This is exactly where the real problem comes into play: The causes have long been known, as Jochen Specht made clear. But eliminating them is hardly possible. In many conversations, he and his team received two main reports from the facilities. On the one hand, there is the length of stay of those affected, which is an average of 18 days per stay in the district: “Nobody went into this job to look after someone without the possibility of establishing a relationship,” reported Specht, “I understand that too – the problem but remains. ” On the other hand, there is the well-known shortage of human resources: Before a place can be occupied, talks with relatives have to be held and a lot of bureaucracy has to be dealt with for the admission. So: every three weeks, the work starts all over again for each seat. In the case of a stationary place, this procedure may be necessary two or three times a year.
In order to relieve the facilities in this regard, the district has for some time been supporting the provision of further permanent places as part of a program funded by the Free State (WoLeRaF) with a flat-rate grant of 4240 euros. This is to cover the additional work. In fact, as Specht explained, this covers a space clearance fee and the additional time required. Probably for this reason, funding has so far only been accepted by one institution for two places. Six further sponsored places would be possible.
“One would have to over-finance short-term care places,” said Reinhard Oellerer (Greens). That is the only way how places can be created in large numbers under the current structural conditions of care. “And that goes beyond our capabilities.” Jochen Specht nevertheless made it clear that he would continue to hold talks with the institutions.