Erfurt (dpa/th) - At the end of last year, more than every second person in need of care in Thuringia was cared for at home by relatives alone. The Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) referred to figures from the State Statistical Office on Tuesday. "Thuringia's largest nursing service are the relatives," said the head of the TK state representation, Guido Dressel. This makes it clear once again that caring relatives urgently need more support and relief.

While the proportion of those who were cared for in the home as a full inpatient decreased, the number of those who were cared for on an outpatient basis by a nursing service, for example, increased significantly. In 2017, 25,398 people in need of care were cared for as inpatients, in 2021 there were still 23,747 people. This corresponds to a decrease of 6.5 percent in total. Last year, 38,649 people received outpatient care, which is 4,187 more than in 2019 and even 9,767 more than in 2017.

"The unusually strong decline in inpatient care is probably due to the corona pandemic," said Dressel. Retirement and nursing homes were hit particularly hard.