Germany’s Verdi union is calling for significant revisions to the proposed hospital reform legislation following consultations with relevant associations. Sylvia Bühler, a federal board member of Verdi, stated that a reform neglecting hospital staff is destined to fail, emphasizing that sufficient personnel are crucial for quality patient care.
The union welcomed the planned shift to funding the transformation fund through tax revenues, describing it as a necessary correction to avoid placing the financial burden of restructuring the hospital landscape on statutory health insurance recipients.
However, Verdi strongly criticized the removal of mandatory nurse-to-patient ratios as a quality benchmark. Bühler warned that inadequate post-operative monitoring due to staff shortages could endanger patients, reiterating the need for sufficient medical personnel across all professions, not just doctors.
Verdi is demanding that the implementation of personnel allocation systems in hospital and psychiatric care be legally mandated as a quality criterion. Furthermore, the union argues that the proposed amendments regarding standby financing are insufficient, characterizing a simple extension of deadlines as an inadequate solution. They advocate for true standby financing, independent of case numbers, including full reimbursement of personnel costs for all hospital employees – mirroring current practices for bedside nursing.
Finally, Verdi stresses the importance of actively involving staff and their representatives in all change processes, arguing that any reform’s success hinges on the active participation of those directly affected and that the reform must demonstrably contribute to nationwide healthcare security.