Minister of Health Stefanie Drese (SPD) does not expect the flu wave to abate anytime soon and swears by the clinics in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which are suffering from massive staff shortages, to treat the important cases. “Should the tense situation in the clinics continue to worsen, it will be necessary to use the limited supply capacities in favor of emergency care,” emphasizes Drese in a letter to the hospitals in the country, according to her ministry. Interventions that are not absolutely necessary should be kept to a minimum.
According to the state’s hospital association, hospitals in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are currently missing a quarter of their staff. Therefore, employees from subordinate areas would be regrouped in children’s hospitals and emergency rooms. “Everyone is doing their best. But we are already asking for the understanding of the population that patients with non-life-threatening diseases have to put up with very long waiting times in the emergency rooms,” says Uwe Borchmann, Managing Director of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomeranian Hospital Society. Sometimes patients would be sent away again or referred to the emergency service of the resident doctors.
However, the postponement of interventions that Drese had planned for a long time in favor of emergencies also had economic consequences. “Insofar as the state government publicly requests our hospitals in letters from the ministries to cancel any planned interventions in favor of emergency storage capacities analogous to the corona pandemic, it should also declare the financing commitment for the resulting loss of revenue. We would have the signature of the Minister of Health right away expected from the Minister of Finance – but it was missing,” stated Borchmann.
According to Drese, the number of respiratory infections in the Northeast has risen significantly for the third week in a row. “Unfortunately, a backward trend is not discernible at this point in time,” she stated. The State Office for Health and Social Affairs reported 2867 new infections with the flu virus for the 50th calendar week. In addition, there are multiple cases of colds.
According to data from the early warning system of family doctors in the country, there are currently about three times as many doctor visits for respiratory infections than usual at this time of year. According to an extrapolation, more than 90,000 people consulted a doctor for acute respiratory diseases in the previous week. The health insurance companies report record numbers of sick leave.
The extraordinarily high number of infections has been burdening the hospitals in the country for several weeks now, the minister stated. In some cases, wards had to be closed because, in addition to the many acute cases, there was a lack of nursing staff due to illness. Children’s hospitals in particular had sounded the alarm several times.
In her letter, the minister also refers the clinics to the precautions taken in the course of the corona pandemic: “The organizational measures used to combat the corona pandemic can also help to protect patients and staff from other viruses.” These included increased hygiene requirements and low-threshold cooperation between all those involved in care.
“Cross-facility communication and the exchange of resources help to maintain care in all facilities. The use of existing networks can also lead to relief,” says Drese, who in the letter also expresses her thanks to the employees in the clinics for expressed their high level of commitment.
The letter from Dreses was noted, the hospital company said. “The best possible emergency care is a matter of course for the hospitals and their employees. However, our hospitals fear a high burden of outpatient emergencies, because experience has shown that many private medical practices close over the holidays and also on the working days in between,” Borchmann drew attention to an additional problem .
Status report Early warning system Status report Infection occurrence
