Nurses are to be given more powers. The cabinet approved a corresponding draft law on Wednesday. Qualified nursing staff will in the future also be allowed to provide services that until now have been reserved for doctors. Exactly which services these will be is to be determined in cooperation with nursing associations. “We want to retain nurses by making better use of their skills,” said Health Minister Nina Warken (CDU).
Warken’s draft also includes a number of measures to reduce bureaucracy in nursing. According to the ministry, nursing documentation is to be “limited to the necessary level.” Applications and forms for nursing services are also to be simplified. The health minister stressed: “Every minute a nurse does not spend dealing with forms is a minute gained for their patients in need of care.”
On Wednesday, the cabinet also launched a second draft law on nursing. This is intended to create a nationwide uniform training program for nursing care assistants – to replace 27 different training programs across the federal states. The new training is to last 18 months full-time. Part-time and shortened training will also be possible with relevant prior experience. The planned start date is January 1, 2027.
With the uniform nursing care assistant training, “new career paths” would be opened up, emphasized Minister Warken. Family Minister Karin Prien (CDU) said it was “a gain for everyone who wants to work in nursing but cannot or does not want to complete traditional nurse training.” She also called it “a long overdue step.” Both laws had previously failed in an initial attempt due to the collapse of the traffic light coalition and have now been relaunched in updated form. The Bundestag will now have to deal with both.
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