HUNGARY/GERMANY: Growing trend of elderly Germans and Austrians choosing Hungarian care homes

Record ID: 526981

  • Title: HUNGARY/GERMANY: Growing trend of elderly Germans and Austrians choosing Hungarian care homes
  • Date: 24th January 2013
  • Summary: BALATONSZARSZO, HUNGARY (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF 'PFLEGEHEIM BALATON' NURSING HOME SIGN READING IN GERMAN: 'CARE HOME BALATON' NURSE CARESSING ELDERLY GERMAN WOMAN VARIOUS OF ELDERLY AND CARERS PLAYING BOARD GAME 'LUDO' (SOUNDBITE) (German) AUSTRIAN NURSING HOME RESIDENT, HEINRICH FARBER, SAYING: "I came to this home not only because of financial reasons but because it is very nice here and I can afford it. In Styria or anywhere in Austria I would have to pay double what I am paying here." VARIOUS OF FEMALE GERMAN RESIDENT GETTING HER REGULAR MANICURE DONE IN NURSING HOME GERMAN RESIDENT HANNELORE KONEMANN'S DOG ENTERING HER ROOM AND GREETING HER (SOUNDBITE) (German) NURSING HOME RESIDENT, HANNELORE KONEMANN, SAYING: "My husband died three and three quarter years ago and I just couldn't handle being alone. I just had to have people near me. How can I describe it? The first visit here to look around. He showed me all the different rooms and this was the icing on the cake and then it was clear for me that I would have to come here. And the fact that I would get such nice rooms I would never have dared dream of. In Germany you get one small room, like a bird cage." ELDERLY MAN BEING HELPED TO WALK (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER,'PFLEGEHEIM BALATON' NURSING HOME, PAUL DE CONINCK, SAYING: "All the problems that we are facing in Germany, you can look at the same problems in France, in the UK, or Austria - it's exactly the same. Operating costs are rising, also already very high and rising, the main problem is the lack of staff - operating a nursing home is all about services, so you can't operate a nursing home without enough staff. And another problem is that the income of the elderly people is stable or going down and the pensions, the pension money is very low in a lot of countries." BERLIN, GERMANY (JANUARY 22, 2013) (REUTERS) PEOPLE WALKING PAST BRANDENBURG GATE VARIOUS OF ELDERLY PEOPLE WALKING BERLIN, GERMANY (JANUARY 21, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIORS OF SOCIO-POLITICAL ADVISORY GROUP, SOZIALVERBAND DEUTSCHLAND (SoVD) (SOUNDBITE) (German) SPOKESMAN FOR SoVD, BENEDIKT DEDERICHS, SAYING: "What is worrying is what happens if the care situation in Germany gets worse and if no effective reforms are introduced - then it actually could become a mass phenomenon where people find themselves forced to move into care homes in, for example, eastern Europe because it is the only thing that they can afford." BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF 'NAPFENY OTTHON' HOME RESIDENTS HAVING LUNCH IN DINING HALL BERLIN, GERMANY (JANUARY 21, 2013) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (German) SPOKESMAN FOR SoVD, BENEDIKT DEDERICHS, SAYING: "Within the framework of a basic care reform, a framework also needs to be created so that a squeezing out (of elderly people) is prevented here, and to ensure that people in Germany are able to grow old with dignity, including when they need care." MUNICH, GERMANY (RECENT) (REUTERS) PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIAL AND LABOUR ORGANISATION VdK, ULRIKE MASCHER WORKING AT DESK CLOSE OF NEWSPAPER HEADLINE, READING 'EVERY FIFTH PENSIONER IS POOR' (SOUNDBITE) (German) PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIAL AND LABOUR ORGANISATION VdK, ULRIKE MASCHER, SAYING: "I think that it is worrying because often they end up in countries where they don't speak the language, where it isn't certain whether the carers speak enough German to discuss more complex things or medical questions or health questions in general. And if you imagine that someone with dementia or with age-related confusion, someone who no longer has their full mental capacity, suddenly wakes up in another country - in Hungary, for example, where it is also a very difficult language, then it is of course even more confusing for a person who may already be confused." UROM, HUNGARY (RECENT) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF 'PLATAN' NURSING HOME VARIOUS OF RESIDENTS DOING PHYSIOTHERAPY EXERCISES VARIOUS OF RESIDENTS PLAYING BINGO
  • Embargoed: 8th February 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Hungary, Germany
  • City:
  • Country: Hungary Germany
  • Topics: People
  • Reuters ID: LVAC655ZHHLCREIPMURWGJ32PJPH
  • Story Text: Lake Balaton has always been a favourite holiday spot for German and Austrian tourists but now a new kind of attraction is garnering the interest of elderly Germans and Austrians: a fully German-speaking nursing home offering high class services for much less than they cost at home.
    The 'Pflegeheim Balaton' nursing home opened last August in a former hotel. Now it is a luxury nursing home exclusively for a German speaking clientele.
    It is the first such place in Central and Eastern Europe but certainly not the last, as the rapidly ageing populations of western Europe face growing problems finding care domestically.
    In the Balaton nursing home, residents are welcomed in a relaxed atmosphere with several home-like lounges, a high number of nurses to help, regular manicure and hairdressing services and daily physiotherapy classes among many other services. The home even attracted a chef from a top Hungarian restaurant to do their cooking.

    "I came to this home not only because of financial reasons but because it is very nice here and I can afford it. In Styria or anywhere in Austria I would have to pay double what I am paying here," Austrian resident, Heinrich Farber, said.
    Many residents say they like the place because of its home-like atmosphere and for the services they could not afford at home at such levels.
    For German resident Hannelore Konemann, the fact that she could bring her large dog was also an important factor.

    "My husband died and three and three quarter years ago, I just couldn't handle it being alone. I just had to have people near me. How can I describe it? The first visit here to look around. He showed me all the different rooms and that was the icing on the cake and then it was clear for me that I would have to come here. And the fact that I would get such nice rooms I would never have dared dream of. In Germany you get one small room, like a bird cage," Konemann said.
    There are German elderly in other, Hungarian-speaking, nursing homes too, but their numbers are difficult to estimate as many of these homes would not allow visits. Recent reports in the German and English media have claimed figures as high as 7,000 for 2011. Available data puts the number closer to the hundreds. However, a niche market does exist and is about to grow, according to chief of the Balaton home, Paul de Coninck.
    Balaton currently has 62 beds and will be filled by summer, de Connick said.
    De Coninck expects to launch a new home as soon as the current one is full. With sites already under preparation, he envisages having several German and English speaking 'nursing home resorts' in Hungary within the next decade.
    The owner of the nursing house is the Belgian mother company ARMONEA NV, the largest operator for private nursing homes in Belgium, with 59 homes. Its total investment is several million euros.

    "All the problems that we are facing in Germany, you can look at the same problems in France, in the UK, or Austria - it's exactly the same. Operating costs are rising, also already very high and rising, the main problem is the lack of staff - operating a nursing home is all about services, so you can't operate a nursing home without enough staff. And another problem is that the income of the elderly people is stable or going down and the pensions, the pension money is very low in a lot of countries," de Coninck said.
    A figure released by the Federal German Statistics Office puts the number of people who needed care in Germany in 2011 at 2.5 million.
    With Germany's population expected to shrink from almost 82 million to about 69 million by 2060, one in every 15 - about 4.7 million people - is expected to need care in the future.
    While the German Health Ministry declined to comment on the situation, two socio-political advisory groups expressed their concerns.
    According to the Sozialverband Deutschland (SoVD), one aspect that needs tackling is the attitude towards carers in the country.
    Some 70 percent of the current elderly care cases are looked after by relatives at home with the SoVD claiming not enough is being done to raise awareness of the task and to adjust pay brackets for both home carers and professional care workers.

    "What is worrying is what happens if the care situation in Germany gets worse and if no effective reforms are introduced - then it actually could become a mass phenomenon where people find themselves forced to move into care homes in, for example, eastern Europe because it is the only thing that they can afford," SoVD spokesman, Benedikt Dederichs, told Reuters TV.

    "Within the framework of a basic care reform, a framework also needs to be created so that a squeezing out (of elderly people) is prevented here, and to ensure that people in Germany are able to grow old with dignity, including when they need care," Dederichs said.
    While no elderly person is being forced to leave Germany, the two organisations have raised concerns that freedom of choice ceases to be an option if pensions are too low to cover the costs of domestic care.
    In addition, President of the social welfare group VdK, Ulrike Mascher, has warned of the unsettling effect of a move abroad on care patients suffering from forms of dementia.

    "I think that it is worrying because often they end up in countries where they don't speak the language, where it isn't certain whether the carers speak enough German to discuss more complex things or medical questions or health questions in general. And if you imagine that someone with dementia or with age-related confusion, someone who no longer has their full mental capacity suddenly wakes up in another country - in Hungary, for example, where it is also a very difficult language, then it is of course even more confusing for a person who may already be confused," Mascher said from her offices in the southern German city of Munich.
    While the question of Germany's ageing population remains unresolved, other Hungarian-speaking nursing homes are also eager to join in the foreign elderly migration trends.
    The 'Napfeny Otthon' nursing home, founded partly by the Evangelical Church in the 1990s, has four homes in Hungary. The one located in Budapest houses 250 people.
    According to the head of the home, it costs about one fifth of what German homes do, which can be 3,000-4,000 euros per month.
    German pensions are currently at an average of 987 euros for men (former Eastern Germany: 1058 euros) and 495 euros for women (former Eastern Germany: 711 euros).
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register