A functioning emergency room in hospitals can be vital for many patients, for example after accidents. But the emergency rooms are under increasing pressure.
Dresden (dpa/sn) - The emergency departments at Saxony's hospitals are struggling with overload and a shortage of workers. "We perceive ongoing problems in the emergency rooms," said the spokesman for the Sachsen Hospital Society, Friedrich R. Munich, in a survey by the German Press Agency. "Many emergency departments are heavily overloaded. They have too few employees and if they fall ill, it can hardly be compensated." In addition, the corona pandemic is still particularly noticeable among doctors and nurses, up to a quarter of whom are ill as a result.
It is also noticeable when, for example, resident doctors close their practice between public holidays such as Christmas and refer to the emergency rooms of the hospitals. "The result is often long waiting times for patients and additional workloads for hospital staff."
At the Heinrich-Braun-Klinikum in Zwickau and Kirchberg, the emergency room in the Kirchberg part of the clinic will be closed at the end of the year. The occupancy numbers in the acute medical areas of surgery, orthopedics and internal medicine have been declining there since 2016, it said in a statement. The corona pandemic has strengthened this trend since 2020. In addition, there is a “relevant shortage of skilled workers” in the acute areas, which, despite all the efforts and support from Zwickau, can no longer be compensated for, the reason given.
Kirchberg is now to be expanded into a specialist clinic for neurorehabilitation. "In view of the developments at the Kirchberg location, it is appropriate to realign the range of services across locations," said the medical director of the clinic, Karsten Fröhlich. Construction work is scheduled to begin next year.
In addition to the economic burdens, such as those caused by increased energy prices, the Paracelsus Clinic in Adorf/Schoeneck in Vogtland is also struggling with a shortage of workers, as Isabelle Georgi-Barth from Corporate Communications said. However, there was no permanent deregistration or closure of the emergency room in Adorf or Schöneck. However, it has happened that individual wards or the emergency room at the control center have been temporarily logged off and the patients have been diverted to another house. One reason for bottlenecks could be when employees fall ill or stations such as the intensive care unit are full. During the Covid waves, for example, it occasionally happened that the Covid station was fully occupied and had to be closed.
In the Municipal Clinic in Dresden, too, wards may be temporarily logged out of the control center when they are full. This is a regular process in everyday clinical practice, said spokeswoman Viviane Piffczyk. The decisive factor for this is not always a lack of workers or closed wards, but often a high number of patients. However, there are no plans to close the emergency room, Piffczyk said. The city hospital has the second largest emergency room in the city after the university hospital. "A specialist doctor is always there around the clock."
"We do not intend to close the emergency room, but are trying to maintain local and regional emergency care at this highest level under all circumstances," said the spokeswoman for the Municipal Clinic in Görlitz, Katja Pietsch. "We are confident that we will continue to do so." There is by no means a "falling demand". However, Görlitz has the same problems as other clinics.
