Problems in care homes go deeper than Covid, says report
Care homes for the elderly were particularly hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Keystone / Cyril Zingaro
An expert report commissioned by the government’s Covid-19 scientific taskforce criticises Swiss elderly people’s homes during the pandemic, and says some of the problems are structural.
This content was published on
1 minute
RTS/jc
Español
es
Los problemas en los hogares de ancianos, más profundos que el COVID
The pandemic posed and still poses particular difficulties for long-term care institutions, says the report released on Monday. Residents of elderly care homes were infected with a severe form of Covid-19 or died at a higher-than-average rate, it notes.
However, most of the issues identified are not specific to the pandemic but are “structural and have been known for years by those involved in long-term care”, the authors write. These include lack of qualified nursing staff and cumbersome communication with external medical institutions such as doctors’ practices and hospitals.
The number and qualifications of the nursing staff working in these institutions are not sufficient to meet the needs of the residents, it says. In many homes for the elderly, there is an urgent need for internal or external expertise in epidemiology, infection prevention, anticipatory care plans and palliative care. The experts have produced a set of recommendations sent to actors in the field.
Carol Gay, former head of the umbrella organisation for care homes in canton Vaud, defended the sector in an interviewExternal link with the Swiss public broadcaster RTS on Tuesday. “We still have a lot of room for improvement, but we are working on it with our colleagues,” she said.
Popular Stories
More
Climate adaptation
Why Switzerland is among the ten fastest-warming countries in the world
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
This content was published on
The President of the Swiss Conference of Bishops wants a national digital register of clergy – in the interest of transparency.
Switzerland is Europe’s most innovative country, EU study finds
This content was published on
In the European Commission's annual ranking, the Swiss score dropped slightly in 2025, but not enough to cost it top spot.
Women’s Euro 2025 has been largely peaceful so far
This content was published on
After two weeks of football fever in various Swiss host cities, no major incidents have been reported so far, police say.
Calls for elderly care homes to be better prepared for pandemics
This content was published on
A Tages AnzeigerExternal link survey found that 53% of all people who died as a result of coronavirus infection were care home residents. The results varied from canton to canton, with Zurich, Basel City and Vaud reporting a care home death rate of at least 60% with the figure dropping to 41% in Geneva. As…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.