High demand for family doctors and pediatricians has consequences
The leading association of statutory health insurance physicians in Saarland expects a negative impact on patients in outpatient care due to falling numbers of doctors and underfunding of the system. "We will not be able to avoid making further restrictions," said Harry Derouet, Chairman of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KV Saarland), on Thursday evening.
"It will become more uncomfortable for people," predicted his deputy Thomas Rehlinger. Politicians and patients would have to realize "that we can no longer draw on unlimited resources". In concrete terms, this means that journeys to surgeries will be longer, waiting times for appointments will be longer and services will have to be restricted.
The shortage of doctors is particularly evident among the 660 GPs in Saarland: the number of GP vacancies has risen from 58 last year to currently 93. According to Rehlinger, this is not only due to the fact that the demand figures have been adjusted, but also to the fact that around 30 practices cannot be filled each year. A proportion of more than 20 percent of GPs over the age of 65 makes the situation more difficult.
According to Derouet, the situation with pediatricians is "still halfway okay on paper". In reality, however, pediatricians are working at their limits because there has been a large increase in the number of refugee children. In addition, there are the legally prescribed preventive medical check-ups, which require a lot of time. According to Thomas Rehlinger, it is also problematic that a large proportion of the 78 pediatricians are exempt from on-call duties due to age and health reasons.
"It's difficult, we can't conjure up doctors," said Derouet. Training alliances with children's clinics and practices should now help to meet demand, make it easier for doctors to train and keep them in the state. The KV is supporting this project financially - also for prospective GPs and dermatologists - in order to attract doctors from outside Saarland. However, this does not solve the current problems, but is rather an investment in the future.
The initial fears of the children's clinics that they could lose doctors to practices as a result have now been overcome. In the meantime, the providers have also understood that it is no longer a question of losing someone, "but of making sure that I still have people on site."
According to the two KV board members, the general conditions for medical practices and patient care are also made more difficult by non-functioning digitalization projects and excessive bureaucracy. Politicians urgently need to remove hurdles here and ensure simpler systems.
Doctors facing high demand in health care may need to impose restrictions on services, such as longer wait times and limited appointments. The shortage of family doctors, with 93 vacancies in Saarland alone, is making it difficult to meet patient needs.
Source: www.dpa.com
