Improvement of medical care planned

Shorter waiting times at the doctor and more land doctors

06/01/2014

The medical care in Germany should improve according to the will of the new Federal Minister of Health Hermann Gröhe (CDU) significantly in the future. Opposite the „Picture on Sunday“ stated size shorter waiting times for a doctor's appointment for legally insured persons and a higher density of doctors in rural areas as essential goals.

In particular, the different waiting periods for patients with statutory and private health insurance have been criticized in the past. While people insured by the law often have to wait for more than four weeks for a specialist appointment, privately insured persons are usually served faster, as the accusation often expressed. In the coalition agreement, SPD, CDU and CSU have therefore agreed that the waiting time for a doctor's appointment for legally insured in the future be significantly reduced, said Gröhe.

A specialist appointment within a maximum of four weeks
Coordinated by the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, those insured under the law should in future receive a specialist appointment within a maximum of four weeks and otherwise be entitled to outpatient hospital treatment, the new Federal Minister of Health said. If the patients have to be transferred to the hospital, this will be paid from the health insurance budget of the practicing physicians in order to put some financial pressure on the medical profession.

Higher doctor density in rural areas
An increase in the density of doctors in rural areas can only be achieved in the opinion of the minister if more and more young physicians settle down as agricultural doctors. „I want to talk to the science ministers of the countries that young people who commit themselves to take up a practice in rural areas will be made easier to study“, explained Gröhe. „This could also apply to those who have volunteered for a social year, for example, in the ambulance service“, the new Federal Minister of Health continues. Comparable regulations would „already successfully practiced in some federal states and at some universities.“

Qualified immigration required in the care
With regard to the immigration debate that has recently been rekindled by the CSU, the Federal Minister of Health emphasized to the Bild am Sonntag that „We have been able to exist in nursing for years only because there is also qualified immigration.“ This also applies to nurses from Bulgaria and Romania. Nurses from EU countries with appropriate qualifications are generally supported here. „Under certain conditions, non-EU countries may also be considered“, so gröhe on. At the same time, he also wants to make the nursing profession so attractive, „that young people in Germany like to take him after school.“ (Fp)

Picture: Rainer Sturm