Focus Conference: Care & the World of Work
The focus conference on the topic of care & the world of work organised by Zukunftswerkstatt Gesundheitspolitik also opened a discussion on the topic of 24h care. IG24 addressed several problems here: The power asymmetry within the triangular relationship of caregiver – cared-for person – agency, bogus self-employment and the legal determination of these employment relationships dilemma within the competence framework – care/care, lack of support offers for caregivers, which we are striving for.
Together with Birgit Meinhard-Schiebel from the IG Pflegende Angehörige, we reached a consensus in the course of our presentation that a better infrastructure needs to be built in the problem area of lack of support, counselling and training by care professionals. Carers and caring relatives carry out lay care. This contributes to excessive demands in the workplace – a stress factor that has a significant impact on the quality of life of all concerned and on the quality of care. In the professional context of caregivers, lay care also represents a high entrepreneurial risk: Without delegation (i.e. a medical declaration of competence to carry out the nursing activities required in the specific case of care), caregivers may be liable to prosecution in the case of dangerous care.