The interview partners
Prof. Dr. Patrick Da-Cruz is Professor of Business Administration and Health Management at the Faculty of Health Management at Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences (HNU) and Academic Director of the MBA programme in Leadership and Management in Healthcare.
Before joining HNU, Mr. Da-Cruz worked for renowned strategy consultancies in the pharmaceutical/healthcare sector and held management positions in healthcare companies in Germany and abroad.
Dr Christian Weiß is managing director and long-term family successor at the family-run Sozialteam Group. He has many years of experience in social psychiatry and nursing care. Dr Weiß studied business administration with a focus on health management at Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences and completed his doctorate on the remuneration of nursing care facilities under Prof. Dr Heinz Rothgang at the University of Bremen. Before joining Sozialteam, he worked as an association consultant at the state level in Bavaria, among other things.
What innovative forms of care are available?
Dr Christian Weiß: When we talk about innovative forms of care, we mean services that go beyond the traditional structures – i.e. nursing homes or outpatient care in the patient's own home. These include, for example, day care facilities or new forms of housing, known as assisted living or service living. There are also concepts such as shared accommodation for senior citizens, dementia care homes and nursing homes. There are different names for all these models. However, they have one thing in common: in a senior-friendly living environment, nursing, care and domestic services are provided by an outpatient nursing service, thus enabling individual care with a high degree of self-determination.
Where and how are alternative forms of care currently being implemented?
Dr Christian Weiß: I have noticed that alternative forms of care are indeed emerging: there are new assisted living facilities, day care centres and, in some cases, shared accommodation. The question is whether this is sufficient – especially in terms of coverage, as it is noticeable that these developments are mainly concentrated in urban areas. In addition, these services are often very isolated: a day care centre here, an assisted living facility there, or perhaps a shared apartment. What is usually missing is the integration of the various forms of care into a holistic concept. This is exactly where Sozialteam comes in: with our senior service homes, we create places where different services are sensibly combined under one roof, thus enabling a variety of care settings to be accommodated.
How can such services improve the self-determination of people in need of care?
Dr Christian Weiß: The great advantage of alternative forms of care lies in their flexibility. In a traditional nursing home, all services are included – which obviously has its advantages. Although care is provided on an individual basis, the entire package must always be taken, as this is required by law. In assisted living or a shared flat with outpatient services, on the other hand, services can be put together in a modular way. This allows relatives to be specifically involved, resulting in care that is much more individual and self-determined.
The living situation itself also plays a role: whether in a nursing home or at home, many traditional forms of living have their limitations. A nursing home offers fewer opportunities for privacy. In your own flat or house, on the other hand, you are often alone. If you have physical limitations, even a visit to a friend who lives only 500 metres away can be an obstacle. In assisted living, on the other hand, a short walk to the common room is often enough to maintain social contacts. In short, flexibility, individuality and proximity to others make these forms of living an important building block for greater self-determination.
How do employees view this? Can alternative services also create attractive jobs?
Dr Christian Weiß: For us as an employer, it is crucial that when developing new services, we focus not only on the needs of our customers, but also on those of the employees who bring these services to life. Such concepts can only be successful in the long term if both sides benefit.
We know that many nursing staff are specifically looking for alternatives to the traditional system. Nursing homes offer the advantage of a large team, but also have the disadvantage of large groups and shift work. In outpatient care, you have undisturbed one-to-one time with patients, but you are heavily constrained by rounds and schedules. Alternative forms of care open up new perspectives here and combine the advantages of both worlds: a shared apartment with twelve people suffering from dementia allows for individual work in a manageable setting. Day care offers predictable working hours from Monday to Friday – a real plus for many. Assisted living combines the individuality of outpatient work with short distances: instead of getting in the car, all you have to do is walk to the next apartment door.
These structures also offer greater flexibility in terms of staffing – for example, in terms of duty rosters or specialist staff quotas. This flexibility not only makes the work attractive to experienced nursing staff, but can also attract career changers to our services.
What are the current obstacles to the emergence of such services?
Dr Christian Weiß: I see two major obstacles in particular. The first concerns the legal framework: at federal level, we are still very strictly divided into sectors in terms of benefit law. Instead of allowing for more flexibility here, the German government's current reform ideas threaten to make things even more complex. In my view, it would make sense to abolish sector boundaries and grant benefits from nursing care insurance from a single pot – regardless of whether someone lives at home, in assisted living, in a shared flat or in a nursing home.
The second obstacle concerns provision across the country. Alternative forms of housing are usually found in new buildings, which are often difficult to justify economically in rural areas with lower rents. Targeted support programmes could help to establish such structures outside of conurbations. A fundamental reduction in bureaucracy for building permits and simplified funding conditions for sustainable construction would also help in this regard.
But what is important to me is that you can always talk about obstacles. But I also see it as the responsibility of entrepreneurs to actively shape things within the existing framework. That's exactly what we do at Sozialteam. And experience shows that if you tackle it head-on, find the right partners and build good teams, you can successfully implement forward-looking projects – and thus contribute to making alternative forms of care possible across the board.
Thank you very much for talking to us!
[Translate to English:]
Die in den Interviews dargestellten Inhalte und Aussagen spiegeln die Perspektive der Gesprächspartner wider und entsprechen nicht notwendigerweise der Position der Redaktion.
