The German Bundestag has passed a law to expand the powers of nursing staff and reduce bureaucracy in the nursing care sector. Nursing staff will be given significantly more powers and bureaucracy in nursing care is to be reduced. In future, nursing staff will also be allowed to carry out certain medical treatments on their own responsibility.

After an initial medical diagnosis, they will be able to provide services that were previously reserved exclusively for doctors. This is because they already have the necessary professional expertise. The regulation allowing nursing professionals to carry out certain treatments even without a prior medical diagnosis is particularly far-reaching, provided they have themselves determined the need for such treatment in their nursing diagnosis.

Furthermore, people in need of care at home will have easier access to preventive services. Specifically, nursing staff will be able to provide preventive advice or make preventive recommendations directly. The scope of care documentation will be limited by law to the necessary minimum. The German Bundesrat, the assembly of the federal states, must still approve this law before it can come into force.