Legal dispute over hospital reform: clinics fight for important services!

Legal dispute over hospital reform: clinics fight for important services!

In North Rhine-Westphalia, an upcoming hospital reform ensures considerable legal disputes. The reform, which provides for a stronger specialization of the clinics, has already led to numerous lawsuits. Several clinics have lodged an appeal against the reform and had success in court, as n-tv.de . Affected institutions from Essen, Gelsenkirchen and the Recklinghausen district have temporarily received right in four urgent procedures at the Gelsenkirchen administrative court.

The administrative court has decided that these clinics may continue to offer certain services for the time being, although the new concept should come into force from April 1st. Interestingly, other hospitals who also made urgent applications have not heard a hearing before the Düsseldorf Administrative Court. There the state government's decision was considered lawful.

The complaints and their backgrounds

A total of 94 lawsuits have been received against the new hospital planning nationwide, as reported antenne.nrw These complaints mainly come from clinics that have not received any assignment for central performance groups such as oncology and orthopedics. In addition, some complaints concern the general admission of individual facilities in the hospital plan. Rehabilitation facilities are also among the plaintiffs.

For the clinics concerned, there is also the pressure that the complaints have no suspensive effect, which means that the implementation of the reform should initially progress as planned. However, there is a transition period for certain performance groups until the end of the year in which clinics can continue to offer services, even if they have not been officially assigned.

goal of the reform and political reactions

The hospital plan in North Rhine-Westphalia comprises 526 locations of around 300 hospitals. The main focus is on a stronger specialization to improve patient care. Thorsten Klute, health policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, expressed that the high number of complaints questions the supposed unity through the hospital plan. By mid -December 2024, the kitchens should receive binding communications about the future services offered, based on around 6,200 individual decisions regarding the treatment offers.

The legal dispute is far from over, since there is a possibility to appeal against the decisions to the Higher Administrative Court in Münster. According to the urgent procedures, a main proceedings will also follow in which the arguments on both sides are checked more intensively.

Another critical point was the University Hospital Essen, which according to the judges should no longer carry out heart transplants, even though it is a leader in research and teaching in this area. This shows the complexity of the reform measures and the associated challenges that affect both the clinics and the patients.