Huml demands certificates for German nursing homes

Health Minister Huml demands certificates for nursing homes

04/12/2015

Again and again reports of maladministration in German nursing homes and retirement homes. Also on proposals and projects of politicians to want to change the problems something is written regularly. Now the Bavarian health minister Melanie Huml (CSU) demands certificates for nursing homes.

Rate nursing homes with detailed credentials
Bavaria's Health Minister Melanie Huml (CSU) wants nursing homes to be assessed in the future with detailed certificates. Families should be able to form a reliable picture before father or mother move into a home. „It must not be that relatives have to first scour the newspapers of recent years to get a sense of the quality of a home“, Huml told the German Press Agency (dpa). „The transparency is missing.“

Overall grades are abolished for uselessness
So far, there were only overall grades for the homes in the context of the nursing TÜV. These will be abolished by the black-red federal government next year for uselessness. Huml's proposal now: „We should consider whether we make more precise specifications and the individual points visible for the evaluation of the homes.“ The politician also gave examples: „What is the nursing-medical standard, such as the hydration and nutrition? What about the individual care, how is the handling of custodial measures?“ She advocated that significant care deficiencies can not be compensated for in the calculation of the overall grade by positive evaluation of other factors - as it was previously possible.

Dealing with deprivation measures
The handling of detention measures, as named by Minister Huml, should be of paramount importance to many people. In particular, also because in recent years maladministration in this area has been uncovered several times. For example, the Munich Home Inspectorate had one in its 2011/12 quality report „questionable handling of psychotropic drugs“ written. The district court of Munich had announced last year, the fight against the abuse of psychotropic drugs in retirement and nursing homes. At that time it was pointed out that it applies as a deprivation measure, equivalent to fixation, when patients with psychotropic drugs are sedated. The number of fixations of residents of Munich with bed rails or abdominal belts had been reduced in recent years. (Ad)