Aargau tries ‘care dumps’ in Rome

Hospitals are sounding the alarm: Patients need to be transferred again and surgeries need to be postponed. After two years of corona overload, staff shortages are now leading to a health emergency. Pierre-André Wagner, 61, head of legal services at the Swiss Nursing Professional Association (SBK), told Blick that about 300 nurses will turn their backs on the profession each month.

In fact, no other industry has so many vacancies, according to Schweizer Jobradar. At the end of last year, 12,300 nursing jobs were open. In the third quarter of 2022 there were already 14,828. Given these numbers, it’s not surprising that some hospitals have had to apply for recruiting from abroad. For example, the cantonal hospital in Aarau wants to recruit specialists from Italy with a recruitment company, as reported by the “Aargauer Zeitung”.

«Plegecasting» sets a precedent

In the canton’s largest hospital, 86 out of 500 beds are currently only blocked for lack of staff. A delegation from the hospital flies to Rome to fill the staffing gap. And being able to get the beds working again. 30 interviews are planned until the end of November.

The hospital calls everything a “care dump.” “This is a way to recruit staff in a dried-up market,” says Fabio Blasi, Head of Recruitment. Italian women can already apply online. If you can convince them at the interview, a permanent position, 25 to 30 days off per year, and a gross salary of between 5,500 and 6,500 francs will attract you.

Yvonne Ribi (45), executive director of the nursing professional association, is aware of such cases. “We are hearing from various institutions that employ staff from abroad. They have partnerships all over the world,” she says. Some even bring people from China or the Philippines to Switzerland.” Problem: “The specialist personnel you bring to Switzerland from abroad are not available in your home country.”

there is another way

Swiss-wide pioneers in tackling the nurse shortage are, for example, the regional hospital in Wetzikon ZH or the Siloah Group in Bern. They have different approaches to recruiting abroad. In Wetzikon, the workload of nurses in three-shift wards decreased by 10 percent in June. Now they have to work only 37.8 hours a week. Calculated over the year, that would be 24 working days less with the same salary.

After the first few months of promotion, Spital Wetzikon is cautiously optimistic: Due to additional days off, more employees than expected have increased their part-time workloads. Since June 2022, fewer nurses are also working on a temporary basis. However, exact figures would not be available until early 2023.

less temporary

Operating 95 hospitals and 270 nursing home beds in the geriatric field, Siloah Group also reduced working hours for the same fee. Since July there is a 40 hour week instead of a 42 hour week. From 2024, working hours will be reduced to 38 hours per week.

When Siloah President Martin Gafner was asked, he confirmed that the introduction of the 40-hour week had an effect. “The number of temporary workers, particularly in the long-term care field, has dropped significantly compared to the first half of the year,” says Gafner. This was also the main aim of the measure. There are still leavers, but the Siloah Group was able to recruit significantly more new staff in the second half of the year. As a result, they could reoccupy some of the closed beds.

Hospitals are getting cheaper

This also applies to hospitals. Especially because the trend of temporary work is costing hospitals very dearly: Temporary workers cost significantly more than permanent workers. Additional fees of up to 50 percent are payable.

Nursing staff’s job satisfaction is also increasing: According to Roland Brunner of the VPOD union, the majority of members working at the Wetzikon hospital gave positive feedback.

Lack of staff remains a problem

However, the personnel shortage problem has not yet been automatically resolved. There is also a downside to the overall positive measure. For example, Brunner denounces the fact that the right to a reduction in working hours will be revoked if someone has been sick for three weeks or has an accident.

Ribi also draws a mixed balance sheet. That’s why he finds the measures “good and right”, but they are too narrow-minded. Because there are companies that have a huge staff shortage but do not have similar measures. “Immediate, nationwide measures are needed to ensure that nurse staff stay in their jobs,” Ribi says. Cantons are urged to take urgent measures until a maintenance attempt takes place.