The federal government intends to expand the competences of nursing assistants and standardize training nationwide. This is set out in a draft law from the ministries of health and family, which was debated for the first time in the Bundestag on Thursday. With this move, the black-red government is adopting key points from a draft previously presented by the traffic light coalition, which was not passed before the federal election.
Federal Health Minister Nina Warken (CDU) emphasized during the debate that nursing professionals would “in the future be able to take on tasks that until now have been reserved for doctors.” In addition, nursing should be “freed from avoidable bureaucracy.” The recognition of qualifications obtained abroad or in other federal states should also be simplified.
“Nursing is a life situation that can affect anyone at any time,” said Federal Family Minister Karin Prien (CDU). The new law also opened “opportunities for people who had not previously considered this profession.” Prien described the reform as the first step toward strengthening nursing. Further measures must follow to secure its financing and “make nursing sustainable for the future.” Conditions for family caregivers also needed urgent improvement.
The new standardized 18-month nursing assistant training is scheduled to begin in early 2027, replacing the 27 different regulations currently in place at state level. According to the government, it will cover a variety of areas of practice and thus “open up diverse career prospects.”
A specific school diploma will no longer be required for admission, though a secondary school diploma will generally remain the standard. All trainees will in future receive appropriate training remuneration. In everyday practice, documentation requirements are to be “limited to what is necessary.” Green health politician Janosch Dahmen criticized in the Bundestag that the CDU/CSU had not been willing to support the proposal before the election. This had delayed the process by a year.
Green health politician Simone Fischer also opposed looming benefit cuts in nursing. Barriers to training should not be set too low, she warned, as “experience does not replace qualified training.” Left Party health expert Julia-Christina Stange spoke out against a “low-cost solution for more profits.” She called for training to last 24 rather than 18 months, saying nursing must be “more than food and cleanliness.” Language lessons should also be integrated into training where necessary.
For the AfD, Joachim Bloch criticized that improvements in nursing had been neglected for decades, despite the foreseeable consequences of demographic change. SPD health expert Sabine Dittmer described the reform as a “good day for the nursing profession.” On the expansion of competences for nursing professionals, she said they “can do far more than they are currently legally allowed to do.” She also praised the removal of the current “patchwork of training regulations.” Dittmer likewise pointed out that the draft bill picked up on the plans of the previous traffic light government.
The AOK federal association spoke of “sensible measures.” This applied to the expanded competences as well as to “the goal of noticeable debureaucratization in nursing, which is right and important,” said chairwoman Carola Reimann. Thomas Greiner, president of the employers’ association for nursing, called the bill a “sham package.” Referring to the expanded powers of municipalities, he warned of a “municipal austerity program at the expense of those in need of care.” For training, he argued, one year was sufficient.
The expanded competences fell short of expectations, said Thomas Knieling, federal managing director of the Association of German Elderly and Disabled Care (VDAB), telling Funke Media Group that “a real strengthening of the nursing profession will be missed.” The German Nursing Council warned in general against neglect of nursing despite the new regulations.
Council president Christine Vogler pointed to delays in staffing requirements for long-term care and the planned elimination of minimum staffing levels as a quality criterion in hospitals. The draft law will now be further discussed in committee.
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