Opposition parties in Germany are allowed to send formal requests to the government to control actions and pass important political debates to the parliament. These formal requests include a comprehensive analysis report issued by the scientific service of the German parliament. A systematic overview of these reports would support a deeper understanding about healthcare topics and assessments discussed by parties in the highest German decision body, particularly in the field of nursing.

We conducted a review using the German parliament “Bundestag” database for all formal requests since 1949. To systemize the formal requests we performed a quantitative category analysis using descriptive statistics.

We identified 26,197 formal requests with 146 reports related to nursing issued between 1978 and 2019. The 146 reports related to nursing accounted for 0.54 percent of all requests. Almost 30 percent of these requests were related to recruitment and qualification. The second major topic, with 15 percent, was financing of the nursing sector. Of all 146 formal requests in the history of the Bundestag, 55 percent (n = 81) were issued in the last 10 years.

Nursing is an emerging topic in the German parliament, highlighting the demographic shift in Germany and the growing pressure in the nursing care sector. Health Technology Assessment bodies should be informed and work together with the scientific services of parliamentary bodies. This would support a more transparent and evidence based healthcare system, aside from lobbyism.