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A qualified nursing specialist impressed established politicians with her experiences from the hospital front. The focus of the debate in the “Arena” was whether the implementation of the care initiative is progressing according to plan or rather slowly.
“Sometimes I worked 60 hours a week and worked double shifts. Because of the constant change from day to night shift, I felt like I was jet lagged – as if I had flown from New York to Zurich,” Claudia Soltermann said in the “Arena” about her many years of work as a nursing specialist.
Soltermann is currently working at Einsiedeln Hospital. The job in the emergency room is exciting and varied. But also very demanding. She was exhausted and therefore switched to a temporary position. “Countless employees in care are even leaving the industry,” said Soltermann, “they will not come back”.
In order for the nursing staff to stay in the profession, better working conditions are needed, says Soltermann on the show. “The focus is on the compatibility of family and work, because 85 percent of the skilled workers are women.” But wages and safeguards such as the financing of the pension fund must also be improved.
Lukas Engelberger, President of the Swiss Health Directors’ Conference GDK, showed understanding: “We have a difficult situation.” In the last decade, the healthcare system has come under severe cost pressure. “More resources are needed to train people. In order to be able to keep them in their jobs, however, better working conditions are also required.”
Nevertheless: Engelberger did not accept that nothing had happened. The training performance in the healthcare sector has increased significantly in recent years. “Between 2012 and 2019, the number of nursing staff increased by 19 percent.” In addition, with the implementation of the care initiative, improvement is in sight.
Are the cantons in default?
The care initiative was accepted by the voters in November 2021. The implementation takes place in two parts. While parliament approved the first part of the training offensive, the federal government is currently working on proposals for the second implementation package. This provides for improvements in working conditions in nursing.
Immediate measures are urgently needed.
For Yvonne Ribi, Managing Director of the Professional Association of Nursing Women and Men, progress is not fast enough. “It turns out that half of the cantons are not yet ready, for example with regard to the training concepts or the requirements planning of the institutions.” At the same time, thousands of beds are closed due to the lack of staff. Ribi therefore called for immediate measures to defuse the situation. “In this way we can keep those who are still in the job in the job. We are building our future nursing care on them.”
The implementation of the first part of the care initiative is on course, countered Erich Ettlin, Member of the Council of States. The will of the cantons is there, but it takes time. “Employers and social partners are also required to create the right conditions. The cantons cannot solve everything.” Furthermore, one shouldn’t ignore the overall system, according to Ettlin. Otherwise there is a risk that the problems of the hospitals would be shifted to the Spitex or the old people’s and nursing homes.
It wouldn’t work without foreign skilled workers
This holistic view also includes combating false incentives in the financing system, agreed SVP National Councilor Martina Bircher. “We have never had such high healthcare costs. And yet we have a problem.” For example, it has been proven that 10 to 20 percent of operations are unnecessary. It is important to prevent that. Bircher also attributed the lack of skilled workers to immigration. “More people also need more hospital beds and more nursing staff.”
“We would not have survived the pandemic without our nursing staff, a third of whom do not have a Swiss passport,” contradicted Katharina Prelicz-Huber, National Councilor for the Greens. The migrant population also does not put a disproportionate burden on the healthcare system. “On the contrary, we can be grateful that we have these people.” Without sufficient staff, patients cannot be adequately cared for. “It shouldn’t be like that for either side.”