The search for a free intensive care bed has not infrequently been a test of nerves in the past few weeks. At the Ebersberg District Clinic, seriously ill patients had to be taken to hospitals far away for treatment. The clinic management reacted to this emergency and expanded capacities. 20 intensive places are now available, six more than before. The patient can be ventilated on 15 of them. In addition, the emergency team is being expanded.
The district clinic has reacted to the fact that the rescue association Erding, Freising and Ebersberg has not been as well positioned as other regions in Bavaria. According to Peter Lemberger, the deputy medical director of the district clinic, the rescue association previously had the lowest intensive care capacity in relation to the number of inhabitants in Upper Bavaria. So far, Ebersberg had 14 places in intensive care and four in the intermediate care area, which is a link between the intensive care unit and the normal wards in the district clinic.
When he recently presented the latest developments to the district council, Lemberger praised the nursing staff for their great dedication and flexibility. However, he also made it clear that the situation is more tense than in the previous corona waves – and Omikron will probably quickly worsen the situation.
The number of patients is falling in the corona crisis
But with all the gloomy news, there is also some good news, which Managing Director Stefan Huber reported. For one thing, the majority of the patients are apparently very satisfied with their treatment in the district clinic; According to Huber, the district clinic has a high recommendation rate of 85 percent on the White List – an initiative of the Bertelsmann Foundation and the largest patient and consumer organizations that should help with hospital selection. The Starnberg Clinic and the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Clinic are slightly better with 90 and 88 percent respectively, but the Erding District Clinic is below that with 80 percent, and the Freising Clinic with 78 percent is even more significant.
The number of cases in the clinic has been falling for the second year in a row due to Corona. Last year, the number fell from 17,275 fully inpatients in the previous year to 15,161. This year the process continued, albeit less forcefully, until the middle of December 14,769 patients had been treated as inpatients. This also has to do with the fact that planned treatments have largely been canceled in order to have capacities to care for those infected with Covid-19. These have a significantly higher maintenance effort than normal cases. In the outpatient cases, the numbers have normalized again, here you are back to about the same level as before Corona.
Clinic managing director Stefan Huber on obstetrics: “We are approaching a new record.”
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
Joy and suffering – or at least financial problems – are closely related on one topic: the ongoing baby boom in the district clinic. “We are approaching a new record,” said Huber. Because on December 9th there were 776 babies who had given their first cry in obstetrics at the district clinic, 79 more than at the time in the previous year. All those involved will particularly remember the one day this year when eleven babies were born. “In terms of the load situation, this is madness – but we are very proud of it,” said Huber. However, if the magical limit of 800 is exceeded at the end of the year, he would be only to a limited extent happy, because then the district clinic could lose special funding for clinics with up to 800 births per year, after all, that amounts to one million euros. However, a clinic has a year as a “free shot”, said Huber, so you have to see how the numbers develop in the coming year.
The numbers have developed positively in terms of income. In 2020 the clinic achieved an annual surplus of 1.4 million euros, this year Huber is at least expecting a black zero. So it is not a contradiction in terms, he says, to be economically successful and to have a high level of patient satisfaction.