Medical care in the provinces is one of the major issues facing a state like Saxony. A new law should now help to secure the supply.
Dresden (dpa/sn) – Saxony wants to react to demographics with a new hospital law and guarantee medical care across the board. On Thursday, the state parliament passed the corresponding law with the votes of the coalition. The previous one was comprehensively amended for the first time in almost 30 years. Health Minister Petra Köpping (SPD) had already spoken in advance of one of the most important projects of this legislative period. Above all, the demographic development will be challenging for the supply in the coming years. It is already sometimes difficult to find enough staff, she clarified.
“Our goal for Saxony is to continue to provide people with high-quality hospital care in 2030. This requires an efficient, powerful, attractive hospital landscape that is also well networked with other service providers,” said Köpping in the state parliament. The goal remains that every patient in every region is well cared for.
Above all, the law contains regulations on hospital planning and financing and enables the establishment of so-called health centers. There, under one roof, different general practitioners and specialists, short-term care as well as physiotherapy, occupational therapy or speech therapy and pharmacies should enable local care. This term should also include small hospitals that provide standard care, which only offer surgery or internal medicine, or both to a limited extent. In essence, it is about better dovetailing outpatient and inpatient care.
“In addition to securing complex interventions, people also need local contacts, reliable services and short distances when it comes to emergencies, children or geriatric services. The mixture of high-quality care in classic hospitals and health centers close to home can guarantee exactly that,” said Grünen -Politician Kathleen Kuhfuss.
The left welcomed the “long overdue amendment” to the law, but diagnosed “serious deficiencies”. Party leader Susanne Schaper – a nurse by profession – called for a legally anchored investment rate of eight percent of hospital sales. “We are very critical of the fact that psychiatry is not included in emergency care. Psychiatric diagnoses are already the second to fourth most common emergency group.”
