Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) – The waiting lists for planned interventions in the Südwestkliniken are getting longer and longer: Not only patients with hip or knee problems, but now also cancer patients have to expect surgery postponements. This is the result of a survey presented on Tuesday by the Baden-Württemberg Hospital Society (BWKG). In it, 66 percent of the managing directors stated that the waiting lists were longer compared to 2019. “This is associated with a lot of suffering for the patients,” said BWKG boss Heiner Scheffold. This is a consequence of the shortage of skilled workers, which means that 10 to 15 percent of the beds in the country cannot be used.
According to Scheffold, the hospitals are trying to provide people with the best possible care despite the corona burden, a shortage of skilled workers and waves of illness. But the financing and framework conditions would have to be right for that. The survey shows that this is not the case, according to which three quarters of the clinics are in the red and 84 percent fear a worse situation in the coming year. Insolvencies like in other federal states do not yet exist in the clinics between the Main and Lake Constance, but cannot be ruled out, especially in the case of non-profit and private hospitals.
According to Scheffold, the federal aid of six billion euros nationwide will not help to ease the situation. Because of this, 4.5 billion euros are intended to compensate for rising energy prices and 1.5 billion euros for increased costs for food, services and medical products. In practice, however, the focus of the need is the other way around. “The inflation risks apart from energy costs threaten to get stuck in the hospitals for the most part,” said Scheffold, who is also the district administrator of the Alb-Donau district.
