Family doctors criticize lack of time and bureaucracy

Family doctor day: Alone in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern missing over 190 family doctors

02.12.2012

While in the cities a high density of physicians prevails, complain doctors on the family doctors day in Rostock, the ever-increasing Landarzt lack. For the patients, there is hardly any time, in many cases the physicians' structure is too old and the bureaucracy of the health insurance companies continues to increase. Especially in northeastern Germany, there is „a real shortage“. In the federal state of Mechlenburg-Vorpommern more than 190 family doctors are missing.

Every fifth family doctor is over 60 years old
About 350 physicians of the family doctors association met in Rostock on the weekend for the general practitioner's day. In the course of the event the medical association lamented the increasing shortage of general medical care in the countryside. „In the meantime, 190 GPs are missing in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania“, the head of the country's administration, Dr. Dieter Kreye. Each year about 16 practices would have to close because no successor would take over the practice. Every fifth family doctor is now older than 60 years.

As critical regions with a massive medical shortage called the head of state association the areas around Woldegk, Schwaan and Crivitz. Improved general practitioner conditions could, however, be addressed by the association in the opinion of the association. Kreye demanded above all „stable statements, for example, on funding conditions, fee development and a significant reduction in bureaucracy.“

Settlement of GPs in the countryside is to be improved
On the part of the policy, the family doctors association got the assurance to improve the situation. For example, SPD Prime Minister Erwin Sellering announced that he would improve the training situation and support the establishment of doctors. "We have to win more doctors for general medicine," said the Prime Minister. For this it is necessary to improve the living and working conditions for rural doctors. "We need an attractive job profile that also allows families, and we need to find smart models such as running health centers." As a reform, Sellering proposed to facilitate the opening of second practices for primary care physicians. It is also considering how to improve the transport of patients in rural areas.

Two new professorships at the universities of general medicine
As a further procedure, two professorships for general medicine were set up at the university hospitals of Rostock and Greifswald. Although this is „no solution to the problem within two years“, like the board member dr. Thomas Maibaum emphasized, but this is the „Nevertheless, the situation will improve significantly in ten years time“. The association notes that the demand of medical students in the family doctor area is increasing more and more. In the meantime, general medicine is the most popular elective subject among students“, so maypole.

Bureaucracy of health insurance continues to increase
An important problem for physicians is the excessive amount of time spent on bureaucratic processing. It is becoming increasingly difficult „in the jungle of the forms for legally insured ones“. According to the Doctors' Association, GPs have to spend an average of one third of their working time on the bureaucracy of health insurance companies. The abolition of practice fees would hardly change that. "For me it is like this: I sit down on the weekend usually every Saturday and Sunday three to four hours to write my care office applications, my rehab applications and justifications for health insurance“, complains a family doctor from the district of Demmin. Although the doctor could free up more diagnostic and treatment time for his patients by working on the weekend, but his own private time for family and relaxation come here too short. In this context, the GPs called on the part of the policy, to put more pressure on the statutory health insurance to limit the burden of bureaucratic matters. The health insurance companies, however, emphasized in the past again and again there was no shortage of doctors. Rather, there would be an unequal distribution, since the density of doctors in cities is clearly too high in many places. (Sb)

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Picture: Rainer Sturm