Hospitals at risk due to domino effect
23.08.2023 14:37
The Lower Saxony Hospital Society (NKG) warns with a drastic picture of uncontrolled deaths in hospitals, even before the announced federal hospital reform has even had an effect. With a public campaign on August 21st in Hanover, she drew attention to the dramatic burdens placed on hospital employees. Oversized dominoes threatened to tip over onto a symbolic hospital and cause it to collapse. The dominoes symbolized the billion-dollar investment backlog in the area of hospital construction, excessive bureaucracy, negative consequences of a lack of personnel, enormous inflation-related cost increases and impending bankruptcies. The NKG once again called on the federal and state governments to introduce a preliminary law to economically secure hospitals as quickly as possible.
“The hospitals in Lower Saxony are under massive pressure. Without the maximum effort that has been demanded of hospital employees for years, the tipping point would have been reached long ago and the wave of bankruptcies that was just around the corner would have already passed over the hospitals. The clinics will no longer be able to withstand this enormous burden,” warned Dr. Hans-Heinrich Aldag, Chairman of the NKG in the presence of Lower Saxony's Health Minister Dr. Andreas Philippi. “Only through quick and concrete help can an impending chain reaction be prevented that endangers our comprehensive and local patient care. It is now the task of politicians to support hospitals and their employees with all their might. It is in her power to prevent the clinics from tipping over.”
Association director Helge Engelke emphasized: “We call on the state government to push hard for a preliminary law at the federal level to ensure the economic security of hospitals. It is unacceptable for Federal Health Minister Lauterbach to stand idly by and watch the threat of hospital deaths. The effects of increased insolvencies will also be clearly felt in Lower Saxony. No amount of well-intentioned hospital reform can change that.”
The NKG assumes that as a result of hospital closures, patients will have to expect longer journeys and longer waiting times for treatments and operations. In addition, the shortage of skilled workers could even worsen regionally. Nursing and part-time workers in particular are strongly anchored regionally. “We fear that a large proportion of these employees will look for other employment or take early retirement. A hospital workforce is not a traveling circus that simply moves on when a location closes,” said Dr. Aldag.
Minister Dr. Philippi showed understanding for the hospitals' concerns. “Our hospitals are the crucial cornerstone for inpatient patient care. The planned hospital reform is important to ensure the quality of health care in the long term. We in Lower Saxony are ready for it. We are working on this reform together. We have just launched the '3 billion hospital investment offensive' to help hospitals convert. Short-term acute aid from the federal government is now necessary to strengthen well-positioned clinics on the reform path. In Lower Saxony, we continue to work resolutely to ensure that hospitals receive the resources they need to fulfill their important role in the healthcare system – always with the well-being of the patients in mind.”
“Hospitals are not recipients of charity, but are entitled to refinance their operating costs. The existing funding gap must be closed by the federal government as quickly as possible. What is necessary is to compensate for inflation and to fully finance collective wage cost increases,” clarified NKG association director Helge Engelke. “The economic distress of the hospitals has reached an unprecedented level. If action is not taken now, we will soon experience hospital deaths,” warned Engelke.
According to surveys by the NKG, hospitals in Lower Saxony expect a nationwide deficit of 532 million euros in 2023. Compared to the previous year, this corresponds to more than doubling. In 2022, the clinics' deficit was 217 million euros. The hospitals' deficits due to inadequate financing of operating costs will add up to around 750 million euros in Lower Saxony by the end of 2023. 93 percent of hospitals say they do not expect a positive annual result in 2023.
According to a quick survey by the German Hospital Institute (DKI) on behalf of the German Hospital Association (DKG), the vast majority of hospitals in Germany are pessimistic about the future. Around 70 percent of the clinics see their existence at risk in the short and medium term. Almost no hospital can still cover its expenses from current income.