The Central Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV) also expressed reservations: "Putting patients in a hospital bed again and again during the day and sending them home overnight can only make sense in a few exceptions due to clear criteria," said Stefanie Stoff, board member of the GKV -Ahnis of the "Bild" newspaper.

Without clear guidelines, there is a risk that patients "will be sent home overnight depending on the occupancy of a clinic and not for significant medical reasons," warned Stoff-Ahnis. For his part, Brysch demanded that the patient's well-being as well as medical and social aspects always have priority in decisions.

On Friday, the Bundestag passed the law by Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) to relieve nursing care in clinics. Among other things, a so-called day inpatient treatment will be introduced. In suitable cases, hospitals can therefore provide day inpatient treatment without overnight stays instead of full inpatient treatment. There should be a special fee for this.

The FDP health politician Andrew Ullmann defended the day treatments in the "Bild" newspaper: These were to the "advantage for the patient". They could ensure "that the hospitals and, above all, the nursing staff are relieved by the fact that services that were previously only provided inpatients are discharged home at the doctor's discretion and with the consent of the patient after treatment without an overnight stay in the hospital," said Ullmann. This would save the cost of overnight stays and reduce the workload on night staff.