Minister of Health Lauterbach has Report from Berlin defended the planned hospital reform and made it clear that time was of the essence. There is already a lack of staff to continue operating all hospitals.
Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach has Report from Berlin commented on the hospital reform schedule: “We want to write the draft law over the summer, and the federal states should be involved.” But you have to be quick now: “The hospitals are slowly starting to get into great economic distress.”
The quality is also “difficult” in some houses, according to the SPD politician. According to Lauterbach, money should only go to places where the quality is good. “We can specify that as a federal government, we are responsible for that. The states have to tell us which clinics can meet these requirements.” Then it would be clear within a short time which hospitals were still needed and what they should do. “Planning follows reform”.
No information on the number of closing clinics
According to Lauterbach, he does not want to speculate about the number of hospitals that may be eliminated.
The small hospitals, which “even now, to be honest, are difficult, where many doctors and many well-informed citizens would perhaps not be treated at all,” says Lauterbach, should continue to have a function in care – for example as centers for health care and for outpatient treatment. These houses would then no longer “do the big operation,” says Lauterbach.
“At least ten years overdue”
“We have 1,719 hospitals, for which we already don’t have the staff, not the nurses.” If there are 20 percent fewer hospitals in the end, but they offer better care, then that’s correct in my view,” says Lauterbach. The goal of the reform is better care, and the hospital reform is “at least ten years overdue”.
Overall, money has always been put into an ailing system in the past. “That was wrong”. The money must now flow into the implementation of the reform. But you have to know clearly which hospitals are still needed and for what, according to Lauterbach.
The emergency centers are also “full of patients who don’t belong there”. The emergency reform is also long overdue and will therefore be implemented now, according to Lauterbach.