Hospital reforms in NRW: worries about access in rural regions!

Hospital reforms in NRW: worries about access in rural regions!

The hospital reforms in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) provide concern for many citizens. Especially in rural, sparsely populated areas, people fear longer paths to medical care. State Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) tries to dispel these worries by promising that 90% of the population should have access to a hospital with internal and surgical basic care within 20 minutes by car. Nevertheless, a small request from the SPD parliamentary group in the state parliament shows that in several counties with longer travel times.

are affected by 12 out of 31 counties, including the Hochsauerlandkreis, the Märkische Kreis and the district of Olpe. In these regions, travel times to hospitals that offer comprehensive basic medical care are potentially longer. There are also no specific requirements for specialized treatments such as cardiac catheters or stroke units in the NRW hospital plan. Here, 90% of the population is said to have offered access to these specialized within 30 minutes, which cannot be guaranteed in some circles.

concrete challenges in the affected regions

According to the Ministry of Health, travel times in the affected areas could even be less than 20 minutes if patients dodge to facilities in neighboring federal states or in Belgium and the Netherlands. Nevertheless, some special treatments in many demolition areas cannot be reached within the specified period of time. Interventional cardiology in parts of the Hochsauerlandkreis and Märkische Kreis cannot be reached in 30 minutes. The same applies to Stroke-Units that cannot be reached in time in the districts of Borken, Coesfeld, Olpe, Steinfurt and Siegen-Wittgenstein.

If you look at the challenge of obstetrics, a similar picture arises: While access is guaranteed within 40 minutes in most counties, there are some existing deficits. Especially in the Ennepe-Ruhr district, in the Hochsauerlandkreis and in the district of Euskirchen, longer travel times must be expected. Once again, the SPD opposition underlines the shortcomings in the hospital plan, with the health policy spokesman Thorsten Klute criticizing that many people in the affected counties are "literally left".

The planning system in NRW

The new hospital plans provide for a fundamental restructuring of the hospital landscape in NRW. There are currently 306 hospitals with a total of 526 locations. The focus is no longer on the number of beds, but on planning in performance -oriented groups and cases. The aim is to improve the quality of inpatient care in both the basic and special care.

The new planning system comprises 64 medical performance groups, spread over 53 circles and 16 supply areas. Each of these groups has specific quality requirements regarding case numbers and technical equipment. North Rhine-Westphalia provides 2.5 billion euros in order to finance necessary structural changes by Mags.nrw

The introduction of this differentiated planning system and continuous controlling should help to make the hospital landscape sustainable. The guiding principle that the structures have to be there for people and not vice versa is leading, as is WDR.de