Stations closed: Hospitals are worried about the many failures caused by Corona

Enlarge image

Test center at the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein: Many cases through the Kiel Week?

Photo: Christian Charisius / dpa

The number of staff shortages due to corona diseases and quarantine in German clinics is increasing sharply.

These effects of the corona summer wave posed considerable problems for hospitals and doctors in order to be able to guarantee patient care.

"We have received reports from all federal states that individual wards and departments also have to be deregistered due to a lack of staff," said the CEO of the German Hospital Society (DKG), Gerald Gass, the editorial network Germany.

At times, emergency admissions would also be canceled at the rescue control centers.

»This situation worries us considerably in view of the upcoming autumn.«

In the hospitals in Schleswig-Holstein, among other things, the situation is tense due to the corona cases in the workforce.

"Everywhere it is worth mentioning to difficult," said the managing director of the Schleswig-Holstein hospital association, Patrick Reimund.

According to Reimund, one driver of the infection process in the Kiel area could have been the Kiel Week at the end of June.

It is not yet possible to assess how the situation will develop in the coming days.

Shorter or even longer quarantine for staff?

In view of these difficulties, FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki has already demanded that staff be able to return from isolation more quickly – the quarantine times must be shortened.

He suggested a free test using a quick test after just three days, so far there have been five.

A free test is generally only recommended, it is mandatory for hospital and nursing staff.

The German Foundation for Patient Protection has now rejected the demand for the shorter quarantine.

This "is fueling the uncontrolled spread of Corona," criticized foundation board member Eugen Brysch in the newspapers of the Funke media group.

Instead, he demanded: “Therefore, the isolation period for corona positives must be extended to ten days.

This may only be shortened if a PCR test is negative.«

Meanwhile, the situation on the ground is sometimes still critical.

The University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH) announced last week that it would temporarily close stations at its Kiel and Lübeck locations.

As of Friday, 479 employees were in quarantine at the UKSH.

"Since then there have certainly been more," said spokesman Oliver Grieve.

"We had an extremely tense weekend." Renewed compensation payments for lost revenue resulting from the postponement or suspension of plannable recordings, operations or interventions are necessary.

The scientific head of the intensive care bed register, Christian Karagiannidis, told the "Rheinische Post": "The intensive care occupancy is only increasing moderately, but the occupancy for a summer is relatively high, and the available beds are becoming fewer and fewer due to the lack of staff."

It is therefore important to use the time now to optimally distribute capacities.

»This includes regional networks for the best possible distribution of patients according to the level of care.

Cooperation, but also relief for staff, will be the order of the day this autumn and winter," said Karagiannidis, who also sits on the Federal Government's Expert Council.

The number of infections has risen sharply in recent weeks.

The Robert Koch Institute gives the official number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days at around 650.

Experts estimate the actual number to be about twice as high because many infected people no longer do a PCR test and are therefore not recorded.

The head of the GEW education union is also concerned with the high number of infections.

Maike Finnern called for a legal basis for mask and test obligations in order to avoid school closures in autumn.

“This includes the possibility of a mask requirement if the number of infections continues to rise sharply.

But this also includes the possibility of reintroducing regular tests in educational institutions in the event of high seven-day incidences," she told RND.

Everything must be done to prevent schools and daycare centers from closing again.

apr/dpa