Some 1,500 signatures, including 35 from residents, 30 from employees and 19 from staff, have been collected in recent weeks. "The burgerspital is an emotional matter", says gerd schafer. He and brigitte burtchen, as residents’ representatives, had started collecting signatures to campaign for the preservation of the burgerspital in its current form. Schafer handed over the signatures at a meeting of district administrator thomas bold (CSU) in hammelburg on thursday morning.
The county council spoke of a signal for the burgerspital. Three residents of the care facility, anni misch as spokeswoman of the seniors’ and handicapped advisory council, and kurt brandenstein, who advises the city on the burgerspital, together with schafer and burtchen wanted the district administrator to make a statement on the burgerspital.
"The rumor that the burgerspital will be closed in 2021 is wrong", said bold. He quoted from a prepared press release of the district administration: "there was never any talk of a suspension or expiration of the operating license of the burgerspital on the part of the district administration."
The district administrator explained what the deadline set by the fachstelle fur pflege- und behinderteneinrichtungen – qualitatsentwicklung und aufsicht (FQA) is all about. The point is that the city – after extending the original deadline to 2016 – must submit a concept by august 31, 2021. August 2021, how it would further develop the burgerspital in accordance with the ordinance. This concerns the construction requirements imposed by the nursing and residential care quality law.
Brandenstein pointed out that the city had already presented a concept with the application for exemption. In it, an architect’s office estimates the conversion costs at more than four million euros. The number of care places will be reduced from 38 to 25. Economically, this is unreasonable, said brandenstein. He referred to it several times and repeated that a concept had been presented.
This concept could not be approved, said bold in this regard. It has also been rejected that the burgerspital should remain as it is.
However, the statement by the county council that the burgerspital would not be closed in 2021 smoothed out the initially somewhat agitated mood and calmed the residents in particular. The doubted the sense of the legal requirements. "We are satisfied with the burgerspital", said helga schmidt. Regarding the required wet cells for the rooms, she said: "I could not use a wet cell alone anyway, because I cannot stand for such a long time."
As bold indicated, the care and housing quality act is apparently being implemented differently in the states: in bavaria, there are individual deadlines for the facilities, in hesse a general deadline of 2036, he said. He had no objection to the city exhausting all possibilities with a lawsuit and petition.
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