Unlike in previous years, there was a strong corona wave this summer. The number of Covid 19 patients in clinics remains high. The hospitals are now sounding the alarm. The energy crisis and inflation are also affecting them.
Düsseldorf (dpa/lnw) - Drastic increases in energy costs, inflation and a permanently high number of corona patients are putting the hospitals in North Rhine-Westphalia under economic pressure. "From our point of view, the wave has never subsided," said the President of the NRW Hospital Society, Ingo Morell, on Friday in Düsseldorf with a view to the Corona situation. The “summer dent” observed in infections in previous years did not occur. In addition, there are staff shortages due to quarantine or infections, so that stations have to be closed again and again. The approximately 340 hospitals in NRW are "far away" from normal operation.
According to Morell, more than 4,500 corona patients were treated as inpatients in July in the NRW clinics. That was twenty times more than in July in the two previous years.
At the end of July, 377 corona patients were in intensive care units in North Rhine-Westphalia, more than 150 of them were ventilated. For comparison: At the end of July 2021, 77 corona patients were being treated intensively and 55 of them were being ventilated. After the past two and a half years of Corona, many clinic employees are “physically and mentally at the limit,” said Morell.
The hospital company expects additional costs for the NRW clinics of up to one billion euros given the sharp rise in energy and electricity prices, also as a result of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Inflation is fully reflected in the prices of food, medical goods and services.
Morell calculated the additional costs using the example of individual jacks: The energy costs at the Elisabeth Group - Catholic Clinics Rhein Ruhr climbed from almost 5.2 million euros in 2021 to 18.2 million euros in 2023. At the Oberberg municipal clinic in the Oberberg district, the total costs jumped for gas and electricity from around 950,000 euros to 8.3 million euros. Around 95 percent of hospitals depend on natural gas.
Morell reiterated the German Hospital Society's demand for immediate inflation compensation for the clinics. He criticized that the surcharge for the treatment of corona patients and compensation payments had been removed. For cost increases in the coming year, he called for solutions from the federal government. Otherwise there is a risk of bankruptcies, waiting lists and overcrowded emergency rooms. It is clear, however, that the clinics also have to save.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) announced an aid package for the clinics on Thursday due to the sharp rise in operating costs. Concrete proposals for this should be presented in the next few weeks and decided upon with the federal states.
The hospital society does not want to shake the hospital reform that has been decided on in North Rhine-Westphalia. The economic pressure will remain. "The country needs to make this hospital plan work," Morell said. Because different structures would be needed. According to the hospital plan, the clinics in NRW should concentrate on certain services in the future and no longer offer everything.
The opposition SPD parliamentary group has demanded an investment program of three billion euros from the black-green state government to ensure the financing of the hospitals. According to health policy spokesman Thorsten Klute, the best health care is required in the current situation at all levels.
From 2017 to 2022, the former black and yellow state government initiated investment funds totaling 5.2 billion euros for hospitals in NRW. In addition, there are more than one billion euros in additional federal funds. In the coalition agreement, the CDU and its current Greens government partner have agreed to make "considerable financial efforts" for the hospitals over the next five years.
