Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - Due to the lack of staff in hospitals, patients must continue to be prepared for their operations to be rescheduled and postponed. "There's a lot of talk about a shortage of skilled workers, but that's no longer theoretical: it's bitter reality," said Heiner Scheffold, CEO of the Baden-Württemberg Hospital Association (BWKG), on Monday in Stuttgart. The situation has been further aggravated by the corona pandemic. On average, 14.3 percent of the beds cannot be occupied, according to a survey by the hospital association.
Scheffold is calling on politicians to remove bureaucratic hurdles, to shorten the corona quarantine times for nursing staff and to suspend facility-related vaccination requirements. This is perceived as unfair in the health sector. "It was always seen in the context of a general obligation to vaccinate," said Scheffold. But the latter never came.
According to the current BWKG indicator, the rising costs are also causing problems for the facilities. According to Scheffold, hospitals and rehabilitation clinics are not geared towards unexpected price increases. The facilities are underfunded. In addition, clinics cannot pass on the costs because there are state-set prices, as CEO Matthias Einwag said. 61.1 percent of the hospitals that took part in the survey said they expect to be in the red this year. Society is pushing for inflation compensation from the federal government.
The Baden-Württemberg Hospital Society, founded in 1953, is an association of 473 sponsors with 198 hospitals, 132 prevention and rehabilitation facilities and 733 care facilities.
