Elderly care - First Diakonie retirement homes close due to lack of staff
The personnel shortage in senior care at Diakonie-Welfare Homes has severe consequences for residents: At the end of January next year, Diakonie-Foundation Alt-Hamburg will close two senior care homes. This includes the Heinrich-Sengelmann-House in St. Georg with 95 places and the Seniors' House Matthäus in Winterhude with 122 places, the foundation announced today. The Heinrich-Sengelmann-House is expected to be rented out, and the Seniors' House Matthäus will be converted into a senior living facility for seniors and elderly persons.
"This decision was not easy for us, considering the residents who have to leave their familiar surroundings," said Managing Director Jörg Röskam. However, all those affected will be offered a place in one of the other ten houses of the foundation. The staff will also move to other foundation houses. Already now, only approximately two thirds of the places in both houses are occupied due to the lack of personnel, Röskam said. Therefore, it is not possible to operate economically in the long term.
"This is an alarm signal," said Diakonie Board Member Stefan Rehm. The Diakonie has been drawing attention to the problems in senior care for years and is advocating for improvements. "It's alarming that the Diakonie-Foundation Alt-Hamburg, as a care provider, now sees no other way to deal with the personnel shortage than to close houses." One reason is the rigid personnel quota, which leaves the institutions very little room to react flexibly.
The now disappearing approximately 200 places add to the already missing around 1,300 places in senior care homes in Hamburg and are bad news for care-dependent persons and their relatives, who are desperately looking for a place. It is also to be expected that further institutions in Hamburg will have to give up, the Diakonie explained.
- The staff shortage in senior care across Hamburg's institutions is becoming increasingly challenging, as exemplified by Diakonie-Foundation Alt-Hamburg's decision to close two homes due to economic feasibility issues.
- The upcoming closure of the Heinrich-Sengelmann-House in St. Georg and the Seniors' House Matthäus in Winterhude, both impacted by the staff shortage, will leave around 200 fewer places for seniors and elderly persons in Hamburg.
- Social affairs officials in Hamburg need to address the staff shortage in elderly care urgently, as the current situation may lead to more institutions following Diakonie-Alt-Hamburg's example, leaving many seniors without much-needed care during the winter months.
