Are special corona clinics set up in Lower Saxony? You could relieve the hospitals. Rehabilitation clinics are also under discussion as help.
- The corona virus spreads in Lower Saxony.
- The sharp increase in cases could become a problem for hospitals.
- Therefore, there are considerations for specialized corona clinics .
Is there a shortage of intensive care medicine places? Is there a threat - like in northern Italy - of the collapse of the clinics in Germany, the dispute over ventilation places? But there are promising solution strategies. In Hanover and Berlin - and in Göttingen we know that. The Ministry of Health in Hanover is now opening the doors to local actors.
Corona in Lower Saxony: Concept for a specialized clinic in Göttingen
Scenarios were run through in Göttingen four weeks ago. The premise was to keep the large clinics running with intensive care and emergency medicine permanently. To put it drastically: a "normal" heart attack patient should never die because corona patients block emergency rooms and intensive care beds. That is why special clinics for corona patients, treatment and quarantine are needed. These regional “corona clinics” would have to be set up all over Lower Saxony.
Is the Corona Clinic coming in Göttingen? Exemplary for the whole country
In southern Lower Saxony, a hospital could be prepared for this, equipped with personnel and technology support from the other clinics. In this way, the Weender hospital and university medicine could remain fully functional.
Little has happened so far in this regard. But the subject of corona clinics is simmering vigorously in the pot of crisis teams. And the model - also in variants - could be exemplary for the entire Republic.
At the request of our newspaper, Minister of Health Carola Reimann (SPD) commented on a spokesman: "Last week we issued a decree to the health authorities that concepts for separating the patients had to be organized on site," says Oliver Grimm, who adds: "It in some regions and counties it will actually come that hospitals specialize in order to be able to consistently pull through the spatial separation. "
Pro Corona clinics in Lower Saxony
However, the Ministry of Health is more likely to assume that "in large parts of the country, clinics separate inside, meaning that a building or parts of the hospital are only prepared for corona treatments ". In principle, the state government is open to the topic. But you don't have the authority to issue instructions. "We do not own the clinics - the state gives the health authorities the technical instructions to implement the concepts for separating the patient flow with the local hospitals."
Negotiations have been going on in Göttingen for a long time, as the city's Social Affairs Director, Petra Broistedt, confirms: "We discussed the possibilities of a corona clinic in discussions with university medicine, the Weender hospital and the health department." Neu-Mariahilf Clinic belonging to “Weender” and the Lenglern Specialist Clinic in question.
Financing of corona handles in Lower Saxony
The crux of the implementation is financing. The clinics would have to receive money accordingly. The solution is being worked on politically: In the "Ärzteblatt", the managing director of the German Hospital Society (DKG), Georg Baum, demands a "flat-rate budget for German clinics" and is against individual payment for services.
The amount is to be paid from April to December. "Then nobody has to wait until the case flat rates have been paid and settled, the acute liquidity requirements of the clinics would be covered", Baum justified the suspension of the DRG system.
Corona in Lower Saxony: Rehabilitation clinics can be used immediately
Another option to relieve the acute hospitals could also be the rehab clinics . In an interview with our newspaper, the president of the Federal Association of German Private Clinics, Katharina Nebel, emphasized that the rehabilitation clinics were fully available to the system.
"In coordination with the German Hospital Association, we have presented suggestions and concepts that could help the acute homes in the short term," said Nebel, who is also the managing director of the Weserland clinics. This would also provide trained specialists for care. However, the rule would first have to be that rehabilitation clinics would be able to accept these patients.