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Whether in clinics, in retirement and nursing homes or at Spitex: nursing specialists are in demand and rare, because around 40 percent of them turn their back on the profession sooner or later. During and especially after the corona pandemic, the situation became even worse. Nursing teams were exhausted and cases of illness thinned out the teams. Whoever was still there took on additional workload; continued to work for more hours after the shift and didn’t get the necessary time off.
The voters decided in November 2021: Things couldn’t go on like this and they clearly accepted the care initiative. The message: More people are needed in nursing professions and in order for them to stay, working conditions must improve significantly. The need for care will continue to increase.
Implementation of the care initiative in two steps
It quickly became clear: implementation would take place in two stages. The Federal Council and Parliament had already considered a training offensive – in the sense of an alternative to the initiative.
Things would become more difficult with the improved working conditions, that was already apparent back then. This is the task of the cantons, which are responsible for health care and for the adequate training of health professionals – together with the social partners.
A new law – with perspectives
Now it is clear that the Federal Council is taking up the important demands of the initiators – maximum and normal working hours, for example, the ability to plan services and compensation for short-term changes. New professional perspectives with specializations and additional skills.
The Federal Council wants to oblige the social partners to talk about improvements and negotiate collective employment agreements. There are two variants here – one that is strict and one that leaves room for maneuver. That means: The Federal Council and administration want to take the pulse of hospitals, clinics and nursing homes in the next few weeks.
The past year has shown how creative homes and clinics can be when it comes to improving working conditions and finding flexible solutions – to bridge the gap until the nursing initiative is implemented and in the struggle for nursing staff.
Expected critical reactions
To prevent overload, the professional association of nursing professionals SBK, which launched the initiative, has called for there to be binding guidelines on how the teams are composed. In addition to the size of a team, it is also about the skills that the care team must have, depending on the task, in order to be able to make good decisions quickly for the patients.
To the SBK’s disappointment, the proposal does not include this point – it delegates it to the employers.
Everything costs – who pays?
But there are also critical voices among the employers’ associations. Both hospitals and retirement and nursing homes consider the proposals to be insufficient – especially insufficiently funded.
Costs and finances are also coming into focus in the area of care. This also shows that the scope is not increasing given the challenges in the healthcare system.