If every fifth doctor fails: Enormous staff shortages due to Corona at the Starnberg Clinic

Created: 03/25/2022, 11:00 am

By: Tobias Gmach

“You let the virus run free, but you expect the clinics to be corona-free.

This dual strategy will not last much longer,” says Prof. Florian Krötz, chief physician at the Starnberg Clinic.

© SABINE JAKOBS

20 percent of the doctors in internal medicine at the Starnberg Clinic are currently absent due to Corona.

According to chief physician Prof. Florian Krötz, the situation is very tense.

One solution would be to use infected employees who no longer have symptoms.

District – Not to mention the number of unreported cases, the seven-day incidence reached a new record in Bavaria yesterday at 2200 (the Starnberg district was even higher at 2353).

And not only them: The clinics in the Free State have also never cared for so many corona-positive patients since the beginning of the pandemic: around 5100. It is only logical that an enormous number of doctors and nurses are currently absent.

A prime example of this is the Starnberg Clinic these days: In the Medical Clinic, the largest department with 113 beds, 20 percent of the doctors are regularly absent due to Corona - i.e. every fifth.

This is reported by press spokesman Stefan Berger when asked by Starnberger Merkur.

Another number also sounds worrying:

Prof. Florian Krötz, chief physician of the medical clinic, is currently working more overtime than ever, helping in the emergency room, taking blood samples, taking on initial examinations - activities that are normally carried out by assistant doctors.

Helping out and plugging staff gaps is no longer the exception in the hospital, but the rule.

"We are fully functional," emphasizes Krötz, "but the situation is very tense, it's just a matter of pushing back and forth.

Corona sick reports come in almost every day.”

The virus is allowed to run free, but the clinics are expected to be corona-free.

This dual strategy will not last much longer.

Prof. Florian Krötz

The chief physician doesn’t want to comment so much on political decisions, he wants to analyze them more: “You let the virus run free, but you expect the clinics to be corona-free.

This dual strategy will not last much longer.” With “corona-free” Krötz refers to the 14 infected people who are currently being isolated in normal wards.

They bring everyday clinic life to a standstill, occupy beds longer because they are mostly not there because of Corona, but are not taken to examinations because of the positive test.

Above all, Krötz refers to the massive shortage of staff: Sick doctors are now allowed to take a free test after five days.

However, a prerequisite for returning to the hospital is that they have been symptom-free for 48 hours.

"I've never experienced a case like this before," says the chief physician.

Krötz thinks that politicians could slowly "be honest with people" and accept that people who tested positive also work in hospitals when there is no other option.

In an interview with Merkur, he suggests only testing employees if they have symptoms.

"It won't go on like this forever.

Others work a lot more overtime.

There is enormous pressure.” The chief physician does not want to put any pressure on his doctors.

“But I ask every day when I can count on them again.

And I've also brought people back from vacation."

Beds will be locked, sign off from emergency care

The consequences of the staff shortage are currently being demonstrated once again in the Starnberg hospital: Individual beds have to be blocked, the hospital keeps reporting to the emergency care control center.

That's why no patient is sent home in the emergency room.

But the coordinators in Fürstenfeldbruck then try to accommodate accident victims somewhere else.

If it doesn't work, there will be "forced assignments".

Nothing extraordinary anymore in the pandemic.

The staff situation is also tense in other clinics in the district these days, although not as much as in Starnberg.

The lung specialist clinic in Gauting, which always takes care of the most and currently five corona patients in the intensive care unit, does not systematically record cases among employees.

"We estimate six colleagues with an active Covid 19 infection, two weeks ago there were around 15," reports spokeswoman Beatriz Parente Matschke.

Sylke Will reports quite generally for the Tutzinger Benedictus Hospital: "We currently have a higher number of staff absences due to employees who have tested positive for corona in all professional groups.

This affects all areas of our clinic and fluctuates daily.”

Also read:

By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Starnberg newsletter.

You can find more current news from the district of Starnberg at Merkur.de/Starnberg.