BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – In the future, patients in Germany will be cared for in an emergency by new control centers and emergency centers. A commission of experts from the federal government handed over corresponding reform proposals to Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) on Monday in Berlin. The goal is to relieve emergency rooms and rescue services, which often suffer from understaffing and overwork.
“Today, up to half of those who go to the emergency room state themselves that they are not a real emergency,” said Lauterbach. Many patients could be cared for by the on-call services of resident doctors.
A core of the proposals is the establishment of new integrated control centers throughout Germany. Those seeking help who, in an emergency, contact the rescue service on the emergency number 112 or the emergency medical service on 116117 should receive an initial telephone or telemedical assessment from such a control center. Based on this, they should be assigned appropriate emergency treatment. The staff can then call an ambulance or book an appointment in a regular doctor’s office, an emergency service office or an emergency room for the patient.
“The goal is to identify emergencies that require immediate, immediate action, while at the same time relieving the emergency structures of the less urgent cases,” said commission chairman Tom Bschor. However, a ban on visiting an emergency room without prior contact with the control center is unimaginable.
According to the ideas of the experts, so-called integrated emergency centers should also be created. They should consist of an emergency department of a hospital and an emergency practice of resident doctors. The centers are to be located at the approximately 420 German clinics with comprehensive emergency care.
Lauterbach announced that structures should be broken up. Care should take place where it makes medical sense. “The hospital does not always have to be the first address in an emergency.” But it must be able to offer quick help.
Large health insurance companies approved the plans. “Patients finally need a central point of contact and emergency care from a single source,” said Carola Reimann, chairwoman of the AOK federal association. TK boss Jens Baas said: “Thanks to such central contact points, patients will know immediately where they have to go in the future.”
The Vice-President of the Social Association Germany, Ursula Engelen-Kefer, also warned the federal and state governments to provide “appropriate funding” for “high-quality and local emergency and acute care”. Stefanie Stoff-Ahnis, member of the board of directors of the central association of statutory health insurance companies, also called for the emergency centers to be easily accessible nationwide.
Lauterbach announced that the reform would be discussed with the federal states. The law required for the project should definitely “effective in this legislative period”. The minister did not give an exact date.
Last year, the government commission presented proposals for a reform of the hospital landscape as a whole. At the same time, many emergency rooms and rescue services in particular had complained about overloading. The alliance for rescue services warned in December: “We run the risk of the emergency rescue system in Germany collapsing.” Again and again it was found that insured persons go to an emergency room with all kinds of complaints, especially at the weekend./bum/bw/DP/he