Long-term care

As part of demographic change, the need for nursing care is rising significantly in Germany. At the same time, there is an erosion of traditional home nursing structures, which have so far provided the majority of care, accompanied by a growing shortage of skilled nursing personnel in the professional domain. Current developments point to an acute and increasingly urgent crisis.

Against this backdrop, the German Ethics Council wants to engage in the ethical discourse about the fundamentals of a concept of good care that is orientated towards dignity, self-determination and the well-being of people in need of care as well as those providing care. This includes addressing pressing ethical issues, e.g. the moral significance of caring relationships, social appreciation and solidarity-based support for care work, dealing with staff shortages and processes of dequalification as well as the fair financing of good care. The perspective of ethical analysis and reflection is aimed at both the people in need of care and those providing inpatient and outpatient long-term care in formal/professional as well as informal/home settings.

• Annette Riedel (spokesperson)
• Mark Schweda (deputy spokesperson)
• Kerstin Schlögl-Flierl (deputy spokesperson)
• Nils Goldschmidt
• Winfried Hardinghaus
• Frauke Rostalski
• Gregor Thüsing
• Achim Wambach