“Unsustainable conditions”: Hospitals warn of the strain on the entire health system
Created: 12/19/2022, 2:00 p.m
By: Helmi Krappitz
The situation in the children's hospitals and many cases of illness put a strain on the healthcare system.
Hospitals speak of an acute problem.
Munich – The current situation in hospitals is increasingly becoming a burden on the healthcare system.
The reason for this is increased staff shortages due to illness in all specialist departments and the critical overload of the children's clinics.
Chairman of the board of the health society Gerald Gass explains
the “dramatic” situation to the
Augsburger Allgemeine .
High burden on hospitals: lack of capacity of resident doctors
All areas of healthcare are currently reaching their limits, says Gass.
Above all, the situation in the children's hospitals is critical.
There is a risk of the entire health system being overloaded, since resident doctors have no further capacities.
In addition, there is a lack of staff, many cases of illness among staff and a lack of funding.
"The same applies to the hospitals, whose beds are becoming scarce and who can hardly compensate for the overload of the resident area," reports Gass.
Further stress on children's emergency rooms is due to increasing respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections.
According to Gass, increasing delivery bottlenecks for medicines in outpatient treatment are also leading to increasing numbers in hospitals.
"These are intolerable conditions," said Gass.
Children's hospitals are particularly affected by the high burden.
© Waldmüller/IMAGO
Demand for a sustainable solution: Financial redistribution does not help in the long run
The health system situation requires a sustainable solution.
Gass calls for all areas to be strengthened, but above all for obstetrics and child and youth medicine.
"The situation in the children's hospitals shows that it is not enough to just redistribute funds in the hospital system," emphasizes the head of the hospital association at the
Augsburger Allgemeine
.
The redistribution of funds in the healthcare system is criticised.
Around 400 million euros are to be made available to the hospitals, but the money will be withdrawn elsewhere and only redistributed.
Gass does not see a long-term solution in the plan: "The financial injections now planned for these areas are received by the clinics and are also seen positively, but they cannot solve the problems in the long term."
A long-term care of patients in all areas, but especially in children's hospitals, requires a rethinking of the system.
The current situation is also changing the areas of responsibility, according to Gaß: "We also see that hospitals will have to play a greater role in outpatient care in the future, not just because the capacity limit has been reached in the private sector." Shortage of medication in inpatient and outpatient areas.
(hk)