One is well aware of the problem, says general practitioner Stefan Matura. But the ball is in the hands of the medical association, social security and the public sector: “In the interests of patients and doctors, it is important to find a solution.”
“Due to the lack of general practitioners, some surgeries are already extremely busy during the week, since the number of patients treated is often over the limit,” says Katja Kern, who is trying to coordinate the emergency services. “Doctors and office staff need the weekend to rest and regenerate.”
According to Kern, doctors who do weekend services are often confronted with the problem that patients from neighboring districts visit the surgery: “These are not always emergencies, but sometimes more harmless matters that can also be treated at regular times by your own family doctor.”
“It should be clear that the on-call service at the weekend does not represent additional opening hours, but is offered for urgent, acute consultations,” says Amstettner family doctor Silvia Reisner. She no longer does weekend services: “Very few patients who came to the surgery at the weekend were emergency patients. And if you naturally prefer emergencies, you will be aggressively pummeled by other patients.” For her seriously ill patients, however, she can also be reached at weekends, even privately.
Source: Nachrichten
