MUNICH (dpa-AFX) – According to a new survey, the corona pandemic and financial problems have affected the reputation of the German healthcare system. This is what the management consultancy PwC writes in its “Healthcare Barometer”, an annual representative survey published on Wednesday. According to PwC, satisfaction with the care in hospitals has fallen by 12 percentage points to 51 percent compared to the previous year.
PwC interviewed 1,000 citizens for the representative survey in December. “Apparently, the debates about bankruptcies and hospital closures are gradually reaching the general public,” said Michael Burkhart, head of the healthcare sector at the company.
In the course of the corona pandemic, the reputation of the healthcare system, including clinics, initially rose and then fell again. Many hospitals are in the red and are suffering from staff shortages.
In the first phase of the corona pandemic in 2020, according to the PwC survey at the time, 72 percent of the population believed that the German healthcare system was one of the top three in the world. In the most recent survey, it is still 57 percent. The rejection of corona vaccinations obviously also plays a role here: Of the unvaccinated, only 29 percent see the German health system among the top three worldwide.
A point of criticism that recurs every year is that doctors are in a hurry: 37 percent of those with statutory and 28 percent of those with private insurance stated that the doctors didn’t take enough time.
The health insurance companies, however, continue to enjoy a high reputation among the citizenry. According to the survey, 87 percent are satisfied with their work, with only a small difference between those with private and statutory health insurance./cho/DP/zb