In the dispute with the FDP colleagues, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has to accept another setback.

In the future, Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) will be able to have a say in the planned legal relief for nursing staff in clinics, depending on the cash situation, as the industry fears.

The first information on the use of funds and the increase in staff is also much lower than expected.

Christian Geinitz

Business correspondent in Berlin

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These details emerge from Lauterbach's cabinet draft for a law on the assessment of nursing staff in hospitals, which he sent to the other departments on Monday and which is available to the FAZ.

There had previously been disagreements with Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) on the Infection Protection Act.

In addition, Lindner approved much less money than Lauterbach wanted to support health insurance.

In contrast to the first draft, the new version of the Nursing Care Act states that the Ministry of Health must regulate the requirements for determining the personnel requirements and determining the staffing via statutory ordinances "in agreement with the Federal Ministry of Finance".

This connection met with rejection among those involved.

Together with the German Nursing Council and the Verdi trade union, the nursing staff regulation 2.0 (PPR 2.0) on which the law is based was developed in order to define the actual need for care and to fill up the workforce accordingly, says the chairman of the German Hospital Society, Gerald Gass.

"But if the need now has to be based on the interests of the Minister of Finance, the actual need for care is of secondary importance at best:

The industry is confused

Similar criticism comes from the Nursing Council.

“What must not happen is that the priority is finances and not relieving the burden on the staff.

After all, that is our goal,” says its President Christine Vogler.

The industry is also irritated by this calculation in the template: "If 5000 nursing staff had to be hired from January 1, 2025 and if they were also available on the labor market, all cost bearers would be charged around 325 million euros."

There was talk of an increase by 40,000 to 80,000 employees.

According to the draft, each force costs 65,000 euros a year, so that 2.6 billion euros are actually necessary.

A total of 700,000 people are employed in nursing.

Gaß says of the 5,000 jobs: “That would be a maximum of three additional nurses per hospital or five minutes of additional care for the patients per treatment day.”

Nursing Council President Vogler also complains: "It remains to be seen whether there will really be better working conditions in hospital care." Gass already sees the whole PPR 2.0 in danger.

"The draft law takes the basic principle of a nursing staff requirement instrument ad absurdum," he says.

“This draft law is an attempt to minimize the existing shortage of skilled workers.

It is a signal to nurses that the problems are not being taken seriously.”