Security that pays off

Lever 1 – Reclaim staff time

The time lost due to searching, waiting and travelling has been documented in several independent studies:

• On average, nursing staff spend 2 hours and 18 minutes per shift – around 30 per cent of their working time – searching, waiting and repeating tasks rather than providing direct patient care. (Source: Zorgnet-Icuro, 2025)
• Only 15 per cent of working time is spent on direct care – 21 per cent is spent walking between patients, which equates to over 1.5 hours per 8-hour shift. (Source: BEWATEC, 2023)
• Across the world, care staff spend over half of their working hours (56 per cent) on administrative tasks, including searching for information and equipment. (Source: SOTI/Arlington Research, 2020/21)

Asset tracking and mobile nurse call systems with location tracking tackle precisely these time losses: real-time location information replaces searching and waiting by taking the most direct route to the destination.

Lever 2 – Reducing liability risks

Runaway protection, staff safety and child safety address areas in which a single incident can result not only in human suffering but also in significant financial and reputational consequences:

• 66 per cent of German hospitals report an increase in violent attacks on staff; attacks have been recorded in the A&E department at 95 per cent of these hospitals, and 51 per cent of the attacks are directed at nursing staff. (Source: German Hospital Association, 2025)
• Following incidents of assault, staff at one in three clinics request an internal transfer, whilst at one in five facilities staff resign as a result of the incident. (Source: DKG survey, springerpflege.de, 2024)
• Transparent documentation of protective measures also makes it easier to demonstrate compliance with due diligence requirements to regulatory authorities and funding bodies.

Lever 3 – Protecting assets and investments

Medical devices are among the most expensive ongoing purchases for a healthcare facility. Loss, theft or uneven utilisation result in recurring costs that are often underestimated:

• Endoscopes – among the most popular targets for theft by organised gangs in German hospitals – cost between 10,000 and 160,000 euros per unit, depending on the model. (Source: BKA/LKA Schleswig-Holstein, quoted in the *Stuttgarter Nachrichten*, 2020)
• Hospital trusts have been aware of the problem of organised theft of medical equipment since 2014; as a result, several hospitals have taken on additional security staff.

Automatic theft protection and data-driven utilisation analysis help to prevent unnecessary purchases and extend the service life of existing equipment.

Lever 4 – Staff retention

Particularly in areas with a heightened risk of assault, staff safety contributes directly to reducing absenteeism and staff turnover – a cost factor that is often underestimated in traditional ROI analyses:

• Depending on the length of the vacancy and the efficiency of the recruitment process, a single staff turnover costs between 40,000 and 90,000 euros (90 to 200 per cent of the annual salary). (Source: bkvfirmenservice.de, 2026)
• The average time it takes to fill a vacancy for a nursing professional is currently around 296 days. (Source: bkvfirmenservice.de, 2026)
• If the post is filled through a recruitment agency, the recruitment costs alone amount to 20–30 per cent of the annual salary. (Source: Pflegemarkt Report, citing an IZA study)
• A Deloitte analysis estimates that the annual cost increase resulting from staff turnover, recruitment and induction amounts to between 3.5 and 5.4 per cent of staff costs. (Source: Deloitte Germany, 2026)

Context: These figures relate to staff turnover in general, not exclusively to resignations caused by incidents of abuse. The link (incidents of abuse → resignations → recruitment costs) is demonstrated by the DKG figure above; even a small number of cases prevented each year has a significant economic impact.