DPtV calls on the Federal Ministry of Health to complain

21.09.2022 17:50

“It is a scandal that patients in psychiatry and psychosomatics continue to receive only a reduced psychotherapeutic offer,” criticizes Gebhard Hentschel, Federal Chairman of the German Psychotherapists Association (DPtV). With its decision on the guidelines for staffing in psychiatry and psychosomatics (PPP-RL), the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) once again did not adjust the minute values for psychotherapists.

“Patients will continue to receive only 50 minutes of psychotherapy per week per patient in standard psychiatric care. “That’s clearly not enough,” says Hentschel. The DPtV calls on the Federal Ministry of Health to object to the G-BA decision.

In some cases, patients do not receive any psychotherapy at all

“With this decision, the G-BA ignores modern standards of psychotherapeutic treatment and ignores the joint recommendations of the patient representatives, the Federal Chamber of Psychotherapists and the Federal Medical Association to increase the minute values for psychotherapy,” says the federal chairman. “Patients lose out if psychotherapeutic treatments cannot be offered with the necessary intensity. In some cases, patients remain completely untreated psychotherapeutically.”

“As early as 2019, the legislature had asked the G-BA to improve the PPP guidelines. Treatment in accordance with the guidelines cannot be guaranteed with the guidelines' requirements. “As a result of the current decision, the situation of psychotherapeutic care in the clinics has once again not improved,” says psychotherapist Hentschel. The government coalition also announced a corresponding commitment in the coalition agreement. “Action must now follow,” demands Hentschel.