Motives and barriers of migration to Saxony: the case of migrating health professionals from Czechia

Abstract The regime change in the former German Democratic Republic and its reunification with the Federal Republic of Germany at the beginning of 1990s launched significant social and economic changes which resulted i.a. in high out-migration rate and secondary also rapid demographic ageing of the populations of the states of former Eastern Germany including Saxony. As a consequence, there is a lack of health professionals in Saxon hospitals which is going to be solved by the in-migration of medical staff from abroad. The geographical location of the Federal state of Saxony predetermines representatives of Saxon hospitals to look for missing health care labour in Czechia and latest statistics demonstrate that this could be a successful way to stabilize or even increase the personnel numbers of Saxon health care providers. The aim of this article is not only to bring some basic data about the migration of Czech health professionals to Germany, but especially to focus on processes which facilitate or hinder such kind of mobility, influence the rate of success of their integration both into the work team and German society and form the prospects of their permanent stay in Germany. Ten interviews with Czech health professionals were conducted in order to fulfill these ambitions. As a result, crucial barriers and recommendations for improvements concerning the migration decision making, their integration and sustaining in the migratory destination are presented.