Hamburg, January 12, 2024 – The economic mood of healthcare professionals deteriorated by 4.4 points in the 4th quarter of 2023 and is now at the lowest level of the past year at -13.9. “Above all, the decisive factor is a more pessimistic outlook for the coming months,” reports Prof. Dr. Dr. Konrad Obermann, head of research at the Health Foundation. The assessment of the current situation has only fallen by 1.2 points, while the expectation for the next six months shows a significant decrease of 7.3 points.
The economic mood of healthcare professionals continued to decline at the turn of the year. Prof. Dr. med. Dr. rer. pole. Konrad Obermann, head of research at the Health Foundation.
Five out of six professional groups are concerned about the future
As in the previous quarter, the economic mood deteriorated again in five of the six largest healthcare professional groups. Pharmacists (minus 13.5 points) and occupational therapists (minus 9.4 points) recorded the largest decline. There were moderate declines for speech therapists (minus 6.4 points), midwives (minus 5.4 points) and physiotherapists (minus 4.9 points). Contrary to the trend, the mood among alternative practitioners increased slightly (plus 0.6 points).
The causes: decisions from above, current events and your own working hours
The biggest negative factors for mood development are decisions and guidelines from politics and self-administration (62.4 percent), followed by the effects of current events and crises (52.4 percent). In third place is their own working hours, which almost every second healthcare professional finds stressful (47.5 percent).
About the mood barometer
For more than 15 years, the Health Foundation has been surveying the economic mood of practicing doctors in outpatient care. The mood barometer provides differentiated information about how the medical profession and, since 2022, the healthcare professionals in Germany assess their current economic situation and what development they expect in the next six months. 941 healthcare professionals took part in the representative survey in the 4th quarter of 2023.
The results of the economic mood in the medical profession can also be found online.
About the Health Foundation
Knowledge is the best medicine – inspired by this idea, the non-profit and independent Health Foundation has been committed to transparency and orientation in the healthcare system nationwide for over 25 years. The heart of their work is the structural directory of care. On this basis, she has created numerous IT solutions and tools to provide patients with targeted information. You can find out more about the foundation’s work in the video from Christoph Dippe, CEO of the Health Foundation.
Image credit Obermann: Photography Barbara Hötzel