Children's hospitals close to bankruptcy early in epidemic season

Children's hospitals close to bankruptcy early in epidemic season

As the cold season has brought an increase in the number of sick children, shortages are pushing hospitals to their limits and many families are forced to turn to other health institutions. Doctors say the overload is systemic.

ECONOMY DECEMBER 4. 2022 14:56

For years, the health sector has been facing the same problem at the start of the epidemic season: children’s clinics are overloaded. The scarcity of capacity in Germany is becoming particularly apparent in the suburbs. There are many sick children, and often too few beds.

Sick children siting with their parents in hospitals’ emergency departments without being admited – because there are simply no beds available – is now a weekly occurrence, Frank Jochum, chief physician at the Evangelisches Waldkrankenhaus Berlin-Spandau children’s hospital, says.

This is a major stress not only for the parents, but also for the emergency department team. They call hospital after hospital and it can take hours to find a suitable bed. Even if they find a hospital that still has capacity, it is sometimes a long way away. Sending the children to the other side of town, or to other settlements makes life particularly difficult for parents with more modest means,

Dr Jochum explained, adding that sometimes the nearest suitable hospital is 150 kilometres away. Paediatricians complain of the same problems in Brandenburg. Patients often have to be discharged, according to Thomas Erler, who runs a children’s clinic in Potsdam. The problem exists throughout Germany. The maintenance costs of children’s hospitals are much higher than those of adult hospitals, while their revenues are almost the same, Burkhard Rodeck, Secretary General of the German Society for Paediatrics and Youth Medicine, explains.

Frank Jochum drew attention to another serious problem: there is a particularly serious shortage of nurses in paediatrics. Estimations show that there are currently around five thousand professionals missing, and the trend is increasing. Vacant posts can be filled only part-time or not at all. Dr Jochum does not only paint a gloomy forecast for Berlin:

„The next few years are going to be very difficult in paediatrics and youth medicine. Even if we decided today to launch a mass training scheme, it would take at least three years to eliminate the worst emergency.”

The German League for the Protection of Children has commented on the situation in children’s hospitals with dismay. „It is a feeling of total helplessness. The shortage in paediatric care is dramatic. It is really shocking that such a situation has unfolded,” chairman Heinz Hilgers told Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland news service. Mr Hilgers criticised the government as specialists have warned for years that children’s hospitals and clinics are overloaded, and he called for improvements, but there has been no change. He believes that the system is now at a point where it can no longer cope with the challenges, adding that this was a predictable problem.

Looking at the shortage of nurses nationwide, Germany currently has a shortage of hundreds of thousands of nurses, and 70 per cent of staff only work part-time. In addition, the rate of sickness among nurses is higher than in other occupational groups due to their work environment and extreme workload.

Although the German Federal Parliament recently adopted a proposal that would relieve some of the burden on children’s hospitals, the practical implementation of the measure could take weeks or even months, and would not solve most of the problems.

ECONOMY

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failure, germany, health care system