Dhe great astonishment of Iris Göttmann, manager of two nursing homes of the AWO Hessen-Süd, began with a spelling mistake. “Octopus Nurse” was written on the diploma of a specialist nurse that Göttmann employed in a nursing home in Gräfenhausen near Darmstadt. A temporary work agency in the vicinity of the nursing home had mediated the supposed specialist nurse. However, she had not sent the diploma to the director of the home for a long time.
When Göttmann finally received the document, she was terrified. “I saw right away that the certificate was fake,” she says. The director of the home reported the incident to her superiors. They called in the police. Tense days began for Göttmann. The officers asked her to keep a low profile and not to tell the nurse about her suspicions. “I never let her out of my sight and always sent other nurses along when she was with residents,” says Göttmann.
The increasing use of temporary work agencies in care has radically changed the healthcare industry in recent years. Due to the acute shortage of nurses, more and more clinics and homes are dependent on obtaining staff from these companies in order to be able to staff services at all.
Many old people’s homes and clinics are dissatisfied that the influence of temporary employment agencies has also increased. They complain that mediated nurses refuse to work at weekends or on corona wards, which leads to conflicts with the permanent staff. The care provider Korian speaks of a “vicious circle” as more and more caregivers switched to temporary work in view of the higher salaries. As a result, the staff gaps in the homes would be even greater, with the high salaries of temporary workers not being refinanced by the state. Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) is considering a legal limitation of temporary work agencies.
In addition to these very fundamental conflicts, individual temporary employment agencies also seem to have problems with their business practices. The nursing sector is already the focus of many fraud fighters in the healthcare sector. The Central Association of Statutory Health Insurance (GKV) speaks of a “focal point” in the area of home nursing and estimates the damage in this segment alone at around 30 million euros for the most recent reporting period of 2020 and 2021. The trickery of some temporary work agencies should also be added contribute – and are also dangerous for patients.
Neither the Central Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds nor the State Criminal Police Offices can break down the extent of the fraud at temporary employment agencies. The statistics do not show the area separately. However, research by WELT AM SONNTAG shows that the case from Gräfenhausen is not an isolated case. For example, the public prosecutor’s office in Stuttgart is investigating several people from a Stuttgart care company and a Slovakian temporary work agency on suspicion of joint commercial fraud. In this case, too, there is a suspicion of forgery of documents. In addition, the authority reports that allegations of fraud in connection with the leasing of nursing staff are also the subject of other proceedings.
For home manager Göttmann, the time of anxiety ended on a February morning last year. Shortly after 7 a.m., the police surrounded the exits of the nursing home in Gräfenhausen, ending the nurse’s mission with the possibly forged diploma. The police presented the head of the home with a file containing testimonials from other nurses from the temporary work agency. “I spotted another fake. Because one of the supposedly qualified nurses was recently employed as an assistant by us,” says Göttmann.
The public prosecutor’s office in Darmstadt is now investigating the case. Allegations of fraud are being investigated against three people. The temporary work agency announced that it had conducted its own investigations after the searches. It turned out that “the suspicion of forgery concerned the certificates of three nursing staff and one of our employees could be identified as a possible perpetrator”. You separated from the employee. Those in charge of the house had no knowledge of the forgery. In addition, the company has “revised” its internal processes.
A nursing home in Butzbach, Hesse, shows how dangerous it is to employ unqualified staff. The management of the home reports that an intensive care worker was mediated by a temporary work agency. But there were doubts about their qualifications after just a few days. “We were surprised that she couldn’t do anything with the technical term for blood pressure measurement,” says the home management.
When cheating becomes dangerous
The amazement quickly turned to horror. The nurse said the pre-filled syringes of fast-acting and slow-acting insulin were mixed up. The management contacted the family doctor and was able to provide the incorrectly treated patient with a high-dose sugar solution. Nevertheless, the woman narrowly escaped hospital admission. The intensive care nurse was withdrawn from duty. It is unclear whether she had any relevant training. The provider continues to work with the temporary employment agency. “Without the temporary staff, we could not fill the roster,” says the home management.
The phenomenon of unqualified carers is also known from other areas. In its misconduct report, the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds, for example, found the use of forged training certificates in outpatient nursing services. In this context, the association speaks of “clear indications” of organized action by the accused companies “with the aim of illegally maximizing profits”.
Meanwhile, summonses of witnesses to another case are piling up on the desk of the management of AWO Hessen-Süd. It is about a placement company near Frankfurt am Main, from which the AWO had obtained staff. The company’s website has since been deleted and the telephone lines have been switched off. The disappearance of the company is related to the allegation that the managing director should not have properly paid social security contributions for the mediated carers. The additional claims add up to more than four million euros. The company itself could not be reached for comment.
Customs’ financial control for undeclared work (FKS) regularly inspects care facilities. In 2022, the FKS conducted more than 1,700 employer examinations and almost 15,700 personal surveys in the care sector. A total of around 2,600 criminal proceedings and almost 800 administrative offense proceedings were initiated. The statistics do not show how many temporary work agencies are affected.
Home manager Göttmann has become very cautious after the experience with the possibly forged professional certificate. “I don’t let any nurse work in my homes until I see the diploma,” she says. She doesn’t have more than vigilance.
“Everything on shares” is the daily stock exchange shot from the WELT business editorial team. Every morning from 7 a.m. with our financial journalists. For stock market experts and beginners. Subscribe to the podcast at Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music and Deezer. Or directly by RSS-Feed.