German Charter of Rights for people in need of Long Term Care and Assistance

The Charter is a result of the work of the “Round Table for Long Term Care” initiated in the autumn of 2003. This body was set up by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and the former Federal Ministry of Health and Social Security with the aim of improving conditions for people in Germany who are in need of long-term care and assistance. Some 200 experts from all areas responsible for care in old age (including the federal states, local government, bodies responsible for care institutions, charitable associations, associations of responsible bodies, nursing home supervisory bodies, long-term care insurance funds, advocacy groups for the elderly, researchers, foundations) were all involved. In the period up to the autumn of 2005, working groups formulated recommended courses of action to improve home and residential care and to reduce bureaucracy, and developed as a central measure this “Charter of Rights for People in Need of Long-Term Care and Assistance”. The Charter gives a detailed catalogue of the rights of people in Germany who are in need of long-term care and assistance.

The German Version of this Charter has been published by the German Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth and the German Federal Ministry of Health in 2007.