Increase in treatments in hospitals

Number of hospital inpatient treatments has risen again

24/08/2012

The number of inpatient therapies in German hospitals has risen again. In 2011, 18.3 million in-patients were hospitalized. This corresponds to an increase of 1.6 percent and about 300,000 cases compared to 2010, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) in Wiesbaden. In precautionary or rehabilitation facilities, about 1.9 million inpatients were cared for in 2011.

77 percent of beds used for inpatient treatment in the hospital
As Destatis said on the basis of preliminary results of the hospital statistics, "a hospital stay last year lasted on average 7.7 days". This corresponds to a "slight decrease compared to the previous year, in which an average stay took 7.9 days".

According to statistics, there were hardly any changes in the number of beds in German hospitals. While 503,000 beds were available for patients in 2,064 hospitals in 2010, in 2011 2,041 clinics had 502,000 beds. According to Destatis, about every second bed (48.6 percent) is in a public-sector hospital. In charitable homes, 34.2 percent of beds and 17.2 percent in private hospitals.

„Bed occupancy was 77.3 percent in 2011, slightly below the previous year's level (77.4 percent). The highest occupancy reached public hospitals with 78.7 percent, the lowest (75.7 percent) non-profit hospitals“, Destatis reports in his latest release.

Patients were cared for in hospitals in 2011 by around 839,000 full-time equivalents, the equivalent of full-time employees. Of these, around 139,000 employees belonged to the medical service and 701,000 to the non-medical service, which included 310,000 full-time nurses. Destatis further reports that the number of full-time employees has increased by 2.8 percent over the past year. This applies to both the medical and the non-medical service.

In preventive or rehabilitation facilities, 1.9 million inpatients were treated
In 2011, there were 1,235 preventive or rehabilitation facilities in Germany, in which 1.9 million patients were hospitalized for an average of 25.4 days. Almost 171,000 beds with a capacity utilization of 78.7 percent were available for this purpose. In comparison to the previous year (80.1 per cent) the occupancy rate was slightly lower. Public institutions were the busiest at 89.4 percent, while private institutions averaged 75.9 percent, the lowest.

Unlike hospitals, the largest providers of preventive or rehabilitation facilities are private providers. 66.3 percent of the beds - almost two-thirds - were available to patients in private homes. 17.9 percent of the beds were in public institutions and only 15.7 percent in non-profit institutions.

„A good 8,000 full-time medical staff and 84,000 full-time non-medical staff - including 21,000 nursing staff - provided in-patient care and rehabilitation facilities in 2011“, reports Destatis. (Ag)

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