Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) – North Rhine-Westphalia’s Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) presented the further schedule for the hospital reform in the most populous federal state on Wednesday (1.30 p.m.). The plan, which was developed under the black and yellow state government at the time, was presented a year ago and published before the state elections in April.
The hospitals in North Rhine-Westphalia are to specialize in certain services in the future – from stroke care to knee prostheses and pancreas surgery. A key point is that a hospital with internal and surgical care must be accessible to 90 percent of the population within 20 minutes by car. The specifications of the hospital plan are to be implemented through regional planning concepts.
According to the politically controversial plan, the number of beds will no longer be the central planning tool in the future. Rather, the annual number of cases per medical service, such as hip and knee prostheses, organ transplants or obstetrics, is used to determine the inpatient requirement. Intensive care medicine must be provided across the board. NRW is the first federal state with such a model.
The heads of the hospital association NRW, the medical associations and the health insurance company AOK also take part in the press conference with Laumann.
