Pact for Care | Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Integration and Consumer Protection

The state parliament plenum debated the topic today in a current affairs session “Tackling the challenges of care policy: Brandenburg’s “Pact for Care” – a nationwide model?” Social Minister Ursula Nonnemacher said in her speech:

“The Ensuring nursing care In view of demographic developments, this is one of the greatest socio-political challenges of our time. We already know and feel that the personnel situation in the care sector is becoming more critical because, in addition to the increasing need for care, the number of people of working age and therefore the number of people potentially available for care is decreasing.

Against this background, we launched the Pact for Care in Brandenburg in 2020. Design of social spaces suitable for the elderly and those requiring care On the one hand, the onset of the need for care should be delayed or reduced. On the other hand, when the need for care does arise, care should be made possible in the patient’s own home even more effectively than before.

The consistent policy to support home care corresponds to the urgent wish of people in need of care and it is also suitable for limiting the need for staff. In Brandenburg, almost 87 percent of all people in need of care are cared for at home – this is the highest figure nationwide. And this is directly reflected in the number of nursing staff required. Because inpatient care is by far the most personnel-intensive form of care. If the current 185,000 people in need of care in Brandenburg were cared for with the national average rate of ’employees per person in need of care’, 5,000 additional nursing staff would already be required today – and we wouldn’t have them! In this respect, the Stabilization of care in the home the provision of care by professionals.

However, this approach is also fiscal reasons sensible. Full-time care is not only particularly labor-intensive, it is also the most expensive form of care – for those affected and for the country because of the costs of “care assistance”. Currently, the cost of care assistance per person in need of care in the country is 388 euros per year. The national average is 707 euros. At these costs, we would have total expenditure on care assistance of not just 70 million euros, but 130 million euros per year.

The Pact for Care has proven itself across the board: 100 percent of the districts and independent cities are participating, and in 85 percent of the district municipalities, 664 projects to support people in need of care and their relatives.

The State Nursing Committee also discussed the evaluation results at its last meeting in May and passed a resolution calling on the State of Brandenburg to consolidate the Pact for Nursing and to develop it further in a targeted manner in the next legislative period.

I share the assessment of the State Nursing Committee: We would be well advised to continue with all our strength down the path we have embarked on with the Pact for Care. Because he is successful.

We know that other federal states are looking at the pact for care in Brandenburg and are planning similar activities. The specialist policy approach of local care has now also been anchored in Section 123 of the Social Code Book XI with the nationwide funding of model projects for support measures and structures on site and in the neighborhood. From 2025 to 2028, up to 30 million euros will be made available nationwide every year. With the money allocated to Brandenburg, we can also further develop ‘local care’ in Brandenburg.

I’m convinced of it: The key to securing skilled workers is training your own staff. With the new fund-financed generalist nursing training and the academic training, we are attractively positioned in the state of Brandenburg. Significant support was also provided by the Pact for Nursing, for example through the Project NEKSA (‘Create new instead of adding’), which supported training institutions and nursing schools in implementing the Nursing Professions Act. In addition, it is important to avoid dropouts, among other things by offering social-educational support, which was identified as very effective in this regard by the evaluation of the Pact for Nursing. Furthermore, institutions must also be prepared for the challenges ahead, for example in implementing a work organisation that is appropriate to skills and Recruitment and integration of additional skilled workers and trainees from abroadGetting support.

The country has taken precautions to Transition to the new legislative period In the 2023/2024 double budget, commitment appropriations for the funding programmes Care on site, Care Support Points Directive and Care Future Investment Directive have already been budgeted for in 2024 for 2025. And so the Duration of funding programs extended until 30 June 2025the investment program for short-term and day care even until December 31, 2025.

The ‘local care’ approach has proven successful in Brandenburg. It must also become a focus of the structural reform of the federal nursing care insurance. Because we will never again have as many nursing staff as we do today, but in the future there will be significantly more people in need of care. Therefore, we must deploy nursing staff in a more targeted manner than before through a balanced mix of staff, with the support of foreign specialists and nursing staff, in order to ensure professional care in the future. ‘Leverage’ by nurses are greatest where they reduce the need for care through specialist advice or provide professional support for care provided by relatives. Structural reform of nursing care insurance In addition to securing skilled workers in the company, consistent support must be provided to family carers.

The Nursing Care Insurance Act requires Regional care structure budgets based on the model of the Brandenburg Care Pact be anchored in order to maintain the supplementary structures to support home care in joint financing by nursing care funds and states and municipalities nationwide. The funding program under Section 123 of the Social Code Book XI, which will start in 2025, takes up our proposal in principle. But once again it is only a temporary model program. Model programs are needed to gain knowledge. But we do not have a problem with knowledge, but rather with implementation.”

background

The “Pact for Care”a focus of the state government’s coalition agreement, started at the end of 2020 and aims to support people in need of care and their relatives locally, expand advisory structures and promote the securing of skilled workers in nursing. The state budget provides a total of around 20 million euros annually available.

The Pact for Care consists of four pillars:

1. Funding program for municipalities “Care on site” (Start: April 1, 2021, term until December 2024, around 10 million euros per year)
2. Promoting the expansion of care centers (Start: July 1, 2021, term until December 2024, around 2 million euros per year)
3. Investment program for short-term and day care (Start: August 1, 2021, term until December 2024, around 5 million euros per year)
4. Measures to Training and securing skilled workers (Start 2020, around 600,000 euros per year)

On-site care

The core is the programme for municipalities “Care on site”By designing social spaces that are suitable for the elderly and those requiring care, the need for care should be prevented or delayed and care in the home should be promoted through advice, support and relief.

85 percent of all municipalities and authorities (164 of a total of 193) as well as all 18 districts and independent cities participate in the “Care on Site” program. This means that Pact for care established in almost all municipalities in Brandenburg.

Overall, there are already 664 projects in the area of ​​local care. Over 200 of these projects are intended to improve the participation of those in need of care in the community.

The money will be used, among other things, to set up and expand support groups and Neighbourhood assistanceinformation and training for carers, offers for a group lunchprojects to encourage joint activities and participation – even when care is needed.

Care centers

For the stabilization of outpatient care, a good advice on all questions of care. The first point of contact is the Care centers.

With the funding guideline for the expansion and further development of care centers, the state supports the rural districts and independent cities with up to 100,000 euros per year each to facilitate access to care advice and to further develop the existing advice services.

In 2011, consultations were offered in one care center in each of the 18 districts and independent cities (and two in the Oder-Spree district). Today, there are 45 locations of care centersincluding branch offices and external consultation hours. There are up to four locations per district. In two districts (Potsdam-Mittelmark and Oberhavel) there is also video consultation.

Short-term and day care

The aim of the funding is to create new places in short-term and day care and thus stabilize the home care situation. Since mid-2021, 33 grants have been applied for from 16 districts and independent cities, of which 26 grants with a total volume of around 5.8 million euros have been approved so far. The following have been created: 315 day care places in 18 facilities, 54 short-term care places in five facilities and 40 places in a care group. Further short-term and day care places are planned by the end of 2024.

Securing skilled workers

The Number of nursing employees has increased in BrandenburgIn 2019, there were 40,286 employees in nursing, in 2021 the number rose to 41,828The proportion of women is 84.2 percent.

The promotion of successful training at all levels is of central importance for securing skilled workers in the nursing sector. new fund-financed generalist nursing training, supplemented by the possibility of an academic degree which started in 2020, has made the nursing profession more attractive.

The state-funded Project NEKSA (Abbreviation stands for: “Create new instead of add”) of the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU) supports the training institutions and the nursing schools in the implementation of the nursing profession reform in the state of Brandenburg.

Nursing statistics

According to the current nursing care statistics, in December 2021 184,646 people in need of care within the meaning of the Nursing Care Insurance Act (SGB XI). In December 2019, the number of people in need of care was 153,971. This corresponds to a Increase of 20 percentThe proportion of people in need of care in the total population has thus increased from 6.1 percent in 2019 to 7.3 percent in 2021.

Of those in need of care, 61.1 percent are female and 38.9 percent are male. A good 56 percent of all those in need of care in Brandenburg are over 80 years old.

The official nursing statistics has been collected in Germany every two years since the end of 1999 by the Federal and State Statistical Offices in order to obtain data on nursing care provision.