The debate as to whether - and if so, which - the district clinic has a future is extremely emotional.
District Administrator Josef Niedermaier takes a position and calls for moderation.
Wolfratshausen
- With diligence he has been scolded in the past few days, in his own words even "massively molested". His announcement, subject to the decision of the district council, of wanting to look for a cooperation partner for the Wolfratshauser Kreisklinik, met with hard criticism, especially in the north of the district. One attacked District Administrator Josef Niedermaier (FW) with an open visor, the other behind the scenes and below the belt. In a conversation with our newspaper, Niedermaier appeals to all those involved to “please disarm rhetorically”.
The 57-year-old, district administrator in his third term and chairman of the clinic's supervisory board, has been warning like a prayer wheel for years: a health facility that is more or less on its own like the one in Wolfratshausen is not viable in perspective.
Doctors and employees “are top”, emphasizes Niedermaier, but part of the truth is that the district clinic has been making losses for years.
Almost three-quarters of all district citizens who, statistically speaking, have to choose a hospital each year and live in the catchment area of the clinic, do not choose the one in the rafting city.
“This is by no means a reproach to anyone.
All of this is a fact and the status quo, you have to take note of it soberly. "
Three quarters of citizens go to another clinic
Against this background and in view of the increasingly challenging framework conditions, especially for hospitals like the one in Wolfratshausen, the district council decided to initiate a process for future health care in the district.
The Berlin Vicondo Healthcare GmbH was given the task of moderating what, from Niedermaier's point of view, was “politically very transparent for the district council”.
After an in-depth analysis of the current situation, the management consultancy presented "regularly many possible action scenarios" to the district councils.
Not more.
Also read: Asklepios Clinic is open to discussions
And: Some options - for example, closing and converting the district clinic into a health campus - have already been rejected by the district councils, specifically the members of a specially established steering committee (including Wolfratshausen's mayor, Klaus Heilinglechner).
“Quite quickly, actually.” The option of looking for a “strategic partner” for the district clinic emerged.
That is the declared majority will of the steering committee.
No cooperation partner may be excluded
Rumors that the Hamburg clinic group Asklepios, which runs the city clinic in Bad Tölz, has already been chosen, the district administrator resolutely contradicts: "Without a political mandate, I am not allowed to negotiate or even conclude a contract with anyone." District council determines whether an "expression of interest procedure" will be initiated, which means that potential partners would be asked, but they could also contact the district. No one should be excluded from the group of possible cooperation partners de jure (keyword General Equal Treatment Act, colloquially Anti-Discrimination Act), emphasizes Niedermaier. Neither private clinic operators and non-profit organizations nor churches that are responsible for health facilities.So would the private Asklepios Group be a potential partner? “Yes, among other things,” answers Niedermaier. "But who - if at all - will ultimately be awarded the contract, says the district council after an intensive evaluation of the offers and completion of the procedure."
Looking for a partner is still at eye level
However, the decision for or against cooperation partners should no longer be put on the back burner.
"We could still negotiate on an equal footing," said the head of the supervisory board of Kreisklinik GmbH.
“Both sides can and must still benefit from a partnership.” If the capacity utilization of the facility in Wolfratshausen continues to decline and the non-profit GmbH slides deeper and deeper into the red, “that makes finding a partner and negotiating more difficult, of course”.
The fact is that the district insists on decisive cornerstones immovably.
This includes the continued existence of an inpatient clinic for basic and standard care including obstetrics in Wolfratshausen.
Politicians basically don't give individual clinics a chance
The district administrator points out that the majority of decisions in the health system are made at the state and federal level.
Under the motto “structural change, quality assurance and increase as well as limitation of social costs to 40 percent for employees and companies”, smaller clinics would sooner or later be forced to “through regulatory measures by the legislature and the health insurance companies” in favor of larger hospitals shut down.
Niedermaier brought the current issue of the news magazine "Spiegel" with her to the editorial office.
“The single hospital has no future”, one can read in an article.
Also read: District Administrator appeals to Kreisklinik employees
Niedermaier feels confirmed line by line: The insufficient capacity utilization and the miserable remuneration of the basic services mainly provided there are pushing small, self-employed hospitals to the limit of insolvency.
In larger units, on the other hand, employees could specialize better and the clinic managers act more economically, for example in the procurement of medical devices and products that are needed on a daily basis.
The district administrator is at peace with himself
“I have nothing to reproach myself with,” stated Niedermaier. He was - "like all previous and current district administrators and district council members" - always "treated the district clinic extremely responsibly". But now the time has come to show your colors and recognize "the signs of the times". “I am deeply convinced that the path we have chosen is the right one”. The 57-year-old emphasizes that the process is open-ended. It is quite conceivable that “we will continue as before”. In his opinion, however, that would be the worst of all solutions. “Then we run the risk of it sweeping us from the field in a few years. I would like to avert this danger for the district clinic under all circumstances. "
Niedermaier doesn’t make a murder pit out of his heart.
The recent attacks on him personally - "they hurt," he admits.
As a seasoned politician, he has a thick skin, but here and there a red line has been crossed in the past few days.
It is his concern to make the district clinic “robust and stormy”, and that requires the strong partner he would like to look for.
Anyone who speaks of the "dissolution" of the district clinic or warns of the allegedly already decided privatization is consciously or unconsciously asserting false facts.
In principle, a special purpose association is also conceivable
Niedermaier himself proves that there are no bans on thinking. If the city councils in Wolfratshausen and Geretsried, who want to pass a resolution for the maintenance of the district clinic together on Monday, do not want to make friends with an intended cooperation, “they could have a special-purpose association as operator for the clinic ”. “Also with the participation of the district. But they would have to be ready to take full strategic and financial responsibility. That could be a political solution - but if so, then with all the consequences. ”Incidentally, Niedermaier had offered both town hall chiefs that he or another representative of the district would answer questions from the elected representatives at the planned joint meeting of the two town council bodies.Neither Klaus Heilinglechner (BVW) nor Michael Müller (CSU) have reacted to date.
Also read: Friends of the district clinic do not start a referendum
Does the controversial, sometimes unobjective, public debate damage the district clinic?
“Definitely,” says the chairman of the supervisory board.
"Unfortunately, a lot of china has been smashed, especially within the clinic." Not least the fact that internal performance data and their financial effects were leaked to the press would make budget negotiations and the search for personnel extremely difficult.
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