Alliance for emergency services warns against separation of reforms

24.05.2023 18:03

The effects of the hospital structural reform on the emergency services have not yet been taken into account; this could lead to further overloading of the system. The Pro Rescue Service Alliance is therefore calling for the necessary reforms to be addressed in a coordinated manner and for the mutual effects to be considered. The hospital structural reform must go hand in hand with the reform of emergency care as planned. However, at the Heads of Office Conference, the federal states spoke out against working on hospital structural reform and emergency care reform together.

Based on the government commission's proposal, the planned hospital structural reform envisages dividing hospitals into different service groups and levels of care. This would mean that many hospitals would no longer be able to offer certain services. For patients, this means that, depending on their illness, they can no longer use every hospital, but they can go to the one that is more suitable for their needs.

Longer journey times lead to a greater need for rescue equipment

Frank Flake, 2nd Chairman of the German Professional Association for Emergency Services:
“The hospital reform would worsen the situation in the emergency services without a simultaneous reform of emergency care.” For the emergency services, this would mean that longer travel times or absence times could occur. This means that the rescue service would have fewer rescue resources available, even if the workload remained the same. However, the number of missions has been increasing continuously for years, in some areas by up to 20 percent. This means that more rescue equipment must be purchased and, above all, staffed in order to be able to ensure the legally required aid period (8 to 15 minutes, depending on the federal state).

More vehicles and more staff is not the solution

For years, the increasing number of deployments has been met with more rescue equipment and emergency personnel. The majority of operations are non-emergency operations. This places unnecessary strain on the emergency services and emergency rooms. As in other professions, skilled personnel are in short supply and employees in the emergency services leave the profession after just a few years due to the workload.

Everyone involved in emergency care must be involved

Many rescue missions and many treatments in emergency rooms are not time-critical. Therefore, targeted assistance offers must be created and everyone involved in emergency care must be networked in order to give patients the best possible advice and guide them to the right treatment facility.

The Alliance for Emergency Services is therefore calling, among other things, for the mandatory establishment of common control centers for the emergency numbers 112 and 116117 with coordinated, standardized and structured emergency call queries, telephone resuscitation and health advice.

The Pro Rescue Service Alliance calls for all stakeholders in outpatient, inpatient and emergency medical services in Germany to be involved in the necessary reforms.