Petition calls for law on hospital staffing levels

Services union ver.di achieved a major success with its hospital staffing petition, securing three times the number of signatures required to ensure it is considered by the parliamentary petitions committee. The petition calls for legislation to set staffing levels in hospitals and ver.di believes that urgent action is needed to tackle the 162000 shortfall in employment. The union also calls for appropriate funding to accompany any legislation to increase staffing. [Read more at > ver.di (DE)->http://www.verdi.de/themen/nachrichten/++co++08041bf8-70c4-11e5-a9b5-5254008a33df]

(April 2017) Services union vida is continuing its campaign to secure federally agreed minimum staffing levels in the health and care sectors. The union took part in a parliamentary hearing on the future of care and said that increasing patient numbers and widespread staffing shortages were creating major problems. Increase workloads were putting pressure on staff who are often stressed and overworked, posing a threat to the quality of care.

The FNV trade union has submitted proposals to the government to set staffing levels in eldercare. The union wants to see two workers for every eight residents and emphasises that there should be a balance of different skill levels. FNV argues that this is a crucial measure that will help improve recruitment and retention in the sector by ensuring that workers are not overworked and have enough time to spend with clients.