In 2024, the share of personnel costs increased to 61 percent. In 2023 that was 60.4 percent. The increase is mainly caused by agreements made in the collective labor agreements for hospital staff. The costs for employee staff increased by 8.9 percent, while the number of FTEs only increased by 0.5 percent.
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Phase of life budget
Personnel obligations increased sharply. For example, 59 general hospitals now have 2 billion euros on the balance sheet for this, an increase of 9 percent and good for 11.3 percent of the balance sheet total. Tagage explains: “The majority of this is the personal phase of life budget, a scheme intended for use during employment, but often a piggy bank for pension or departure.”
As far as tagage is concerned, this is important to include in the collective bargaining negotiations. “Stop creating all kinds of jars in the collective labor agreement. Younger employees need more direct wages to buy a house, for example.”
Although the results of the general hospitals recover lightly, with an average figure of 1.9 percent in 2024 compared to 1.2 percent in 2023, this is ‘largely optically’, Tagage explains. Lower financial burdens and the absence of extra depreciation were mainly the cause of this.
Outdated real estate
Investments in 2024 rose to 1.3 billion euros, an increase of 10 percent compared to 2023, but this was almost exclusively about replacement investments. Real estate remains a pain: 39 out of 59 hospitals have outdated real estate, 30 percent of which do not meet the EBITDA standard of banks, which makes it more difficult to gain access to financing for new construction or renovation.
Progress also lags behind in the field of IT, data and automation.
UMC’s worrying
The figures are more worrying for university hospitals. Their result margin fell from 2.3 to 1.8 percent and the investment volume rose only 1.3 percent. Tagage calls the situation “strong and stubborn” and warns that the pressure will increase further without major measures.
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Tagage: “UMCs not only offer complex care, but also play a crucial role in the training of healthcare professionals and conduct innovative scientific research. These are all important elements in the much needed transformation into a future -proof care sector.”