From 2025 no land doctors more in Germany?

Will there be no land doctors in Germany from the year 2025??

04/19/2012

Already in 15 years, a serious shortage of doctors is said to prevail in the rural regions of Germany. A large part of the currently practicing land doctors will then be retired. For new young doctors, the rural areas are not very attractive, not least because of the dramatic rural exodus of the population in many regions. This is what the Fritz Beske Institute for Health System Research in Kiel claims, relying on its own evaluations.

Need for medical care will increase
The family doctor near the city will probably not exist in the future in the countryside. This resulted in an analysis of the medical and nursing care of Schleswig-Holstein by the Fritz Beske Institute for Health System Research in Kiel (IGSF). At the same time, however, the need for primary care will increase, according to the report. The dramatic rural depopulation and population decline after 2025 in the most northerly state could lead to a situation in which physicians would be economically risky in some rural areas. It is therefore to be expected that by the decline in the total population of Schleswig-Holstein and the medical practices would be emptied. Nevertheless, it is expected that the need for medical care will not diminish. Experts from the 20 associations of doctors, health professionals, health insurances, municipalities and patients who participated in the analysis found that the population remained constant at 2.8 million until then.

Future-proof model for medical care proposed
According to the analysis, 576 out of a total of 1929 family physicians who are currently caring for the population are about to retire. 67 percent of them are already over 50 years old. In Schleswig-Holstein, this means for the next twelve years that 1000 new doctors are being sought for GP surgeries, the authors report. The IGSF strongly advises that municipalities have greater scope for action and decision-making in requirements planning. In cooperation with neighboring municipalities, the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians and doctors' networks, these should then determine suitable locations for so-called priority practices. The specialty practices will be open 24 hours a year, year round. Home and specialist care should be offered under one roof. In addition, the IGSF recommends that outpatient care and rehabilitation as well as associated consultants should also be located there.

With medical and pharmacist buses counteract the supply shortage
The report also includes a proposal to strengthen the competences of local councils so that they can better intervene in the reality of care. A case manager could look after patients and guide them through the healthcare system.

If even the distance to the focus practice is too great, doctors and pharmacists could be used in rural areas. Such a pilot project should possibly start in the district of Dithmarschen. Doctors say, however, that it jeopardizes the doctor-patient relationship and also puts a lot of time in the doctor's brain to treat patients.

Lack of doctors in Thuringia
In the state of Thuringia, more doctors are already missing than previously thought. According to an evaluation of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KV) in 2011, 234 GPs and 47 medical specialists are missing in Thuringia. Although the population figures have been declining for years, the proportion of pensioners is growing steadily. First and foremost, specialists in the fields of skin, nerve, eye and ear, nose and throat (ENT) are sought. In November 2010, the Medical Association calculated an additional requirement of a total of 136 doctors. The corrected numbers come about as a new method for surveying the needs of physicians has been applied. This calculation method also takes into account the age distribution and the sick leave of the population. Now, these data are included in the needs analysis, said a spokesman for the KV. (Ag)

Read about Land doctors:
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Health insurance: There is no shortage of doctors

Picture: Rainer Sturm