New emergency service in Güstrow: Improvement for patients from March!

An on-call service practice will be integrated into the Güstrow Hospital on March 1, 2025. Resident doctors should offer outpatient emergency care during certain office hours. A cooperation agreement with the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians is about to be signed NDR reported. The outpatient emergency service is located in the emergency room area. The emergency department then decides whether patients will be treated as inpatients or outpatients. The clinic is currently waiting for funding approval for the planned renovation of the emergency room.

In addition, a new children's ward will be opened at the end of May 2025, which will be created from two previous pediatric medicine wards. The clinic is also in the process of advancing digitalization; The patient files are to be converted to electronics in the first half of 2025. In 2024, the KMG Klinikum Güstrow treated around 25,000 inpatients and 50,000 outpatients.

Emergency service problems and possible solutions

Dr. Andreas Gassen, CEO of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), highlights the existing problems in the emergency service. Emergency services, including medical on-call services and emergency rooms, are not used appropriately. Complaints from hospitals about overcrowded emergency rooms and long wait times for patients are common kbv.de represents.

A key aspect is that many patients who visit emergency services do not have actual medical emergencies. Therefore, there is a need for better management of patient flows due to limited capacities. Proposals to introduce a standardized initial medical assessment, which could be carried out by telephone or online, are being discussed. This initial assessment should provide recommendations for further treatment, such as a visit to the family doctor or an emergency call.

In order to avoid misuse of the emergency service, the possible introduction of an emergency fee for patients who use the emergency service without medical necessity is also being considered. This fee should be billed through the health insurance companies in an unbureaucratic manner. The goal is to ensure that patients who actually need medical attention are not excluded from emergency care.

In addition, there is a need to create an information platform for patients that makes it easier to correctly assign them to the care level. The telephone number 116117 could serve as a known contact point for medical questions that do not constitute an acute emergency. It is critical to build consensus around the need and overburden of emergency care to effectively address emergency service challenges.