Emergency rooms at the limit: Patients complain about long waiting times, doctors about alleged trifles with which people come to them. In addition to the panel doctors, the Union is also in favor of introducing a fee.
The Union supports the initiative of the panel doctors to charge a fee for patients who come to the emergency room without a prior telephone assessment.
According to the editorial network Germany (RND), the CDU/CSU proposes a fee of 20 euros – and received broad opposition. Patient advocate Eugen Brysch described the move as “pure polemics”, FDP health expert Andrew Ullmann considers it “populist and naive”. Green health expert Janosch Dahmen told the German Press Agency in Berlin: “The Union’s demand for an emergency admission fee is heartless and helpless.”
In mid-April, Kassenärzte boss Andreas Gassen made a similar demand to relieve the emergency rooms. “Anyone who can still go to an emergency room themselves is often not a real medical emergency,” Gassen told RND. Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) already rejected the initiative at the time.
Suggestion of a fee of 20 euros
The RND reported on a federal application from the CSU/CDU with a proposal for a fee of 20 euros. This would noticeably relieve rescue services and emergency departments and, in particular, significantly increase the quality and intensity of the treatment of real emergencies, according to the RND in the application.
According to this, patients who are not brought by the rescue service or who do not have a doctor’s briefing should call the emergency number 112 or the medical on-call service on 116117. There, an initial assessment will be made and, if necessary, an appointment for the emergency room will be made. Anyone who goes directly to the emergency room should pay 20 euros. CSU health politician Stephan Pilsinger told the RND: “We want to introduce a model in Germany similar to that in Denmark to ensure that real emergencies are treated quickly in the emergency rooms and that they are no longer blocked by patients with trifles.”
“Demand for a fine is pure polemic”
The board of directors of the German Foundation for Patient Protection, Brysch, told the dpa: “There is in fact no mass abuse of the emergency rooms in German clinics. That is why the demand for a fine is pure polemic and distracts from the home-made problems among the resident doctors.” Because patients often ended up in queues without being able to speak to anyone at the end – or it was busy. That’s where you have to start, according to Brysch.
Green politician Dahmen accused the Union of failing to reform emergency care and the rescue service during her reign. “People with an acute medical problem need to be able to rely on help in emergency rooms at all times, regardless of their budget,” he said. A fee means more bureaucracy and thus an additional burden for the emergency rooms. Dahmen pointed out that a reform of emergency care was planned.
FDP politician Ullmann said: “We do not have a uniform definition of an emergency. It would therefore involve an unspeakable bureaucratic effort to apply for a fee of 20 euros in certain cases.” In addition, it could be that real emergency patients would not come to the emergency room because of the impending fee.
Left Chairwoman Janine Wissler called the Union’s push for an emergency room fee completely nonsensical and antisocial. “Many people go to the emergency room because they are desperate,” Wissler said. She referred to long waiting times for appointments with specialists and a lack of antibiotics for children.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
