People who care for their relatives at home have to spend more and more time and their own money. The result: Over half of nurses cannot work full-time, and many give up working completely. Women are particularly affected.
This emerges from a representative Forsa survey commissioned by the AOK Scientific Institute (Wido), which is available to the Editorial Network Germany (RND). While those surveyed in 2019 stated that they needed 43 hours per week for nursing activities such as nutrition, personal hygiene and medication administration, the time spent was now 49 hours.
The financial burden also increased afterwards despite increased benefits from the nursing care insurance. According to the survey, the average personal contribution climbed from just under 200 euros in 2019 to now 290 euros per month.
The high time demands have a particular impact on your own professional activity. According to the survey, only 46 percent of primary caregivers work full-time. 37 percent have part-time employment and 18 percent are not employed at all. Of the part-time employees, over half said they had reduced their working hours because of care. Among those who are not employed, 28 percent have given up work because of care.
“It is problematic that caring relatives are burdened with an average of 49 hours of care work per week at home and that home care apparently leads to almost one in four people reducing or giving up employment altogether,” said AOK board chairwoman Carola Reimann to the RND. At the same time, this would fuel further difficulties in care in the future, she warned.
“If family carers – predominantly women – reduce their working hours or stop working altogether, this opens the door to poverty in old age for the next generation of those requiring care,” argued Reimann. At the same time, these people are missing from the already tight job market, including in professional care. “Supply and demand for the compatibility of home care and work must be brought into line,” demanded the AOK boss.