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Berlin Four-fifths of hospitals in Germany have missing or incorrect information about their location Federal Hospital Atlas found. This is what current research from the German Hospital Institute points out (DKI) result.
Thus, 85% of the clinics surveyed verified the accuracy of the information in the Federal Hospital Atlas. Of these, 79 percent found incorrect information about their hospital. Hospitals have complained about incorrect or missing case numbers and beds, as well as emergency levels. Some specialist departments were also incorrectly named or declared. Outdated data or incomprehensible nursing staffing ratios were also identified. It goes on to say that addresses, hospital names and hospital owners were also sometimes incorrectly indicated.
In free text information, some clinics also stated that emergency levels, for example, have already been corrected. For the DKI representative survey, 412 hospitals were surveyed from May 29 to June 4.
After we received hundreds of reports from hospitals about some glaring errors shortly after launch, DKI’s representative research now shows that these are not just isolated cases and trivial errors, said the CEO of the German Hospital Association (DKG), Gerald Ga. The clinical atlas is contaminated with huge errors that would mislead patients. Incorrect information should lead to the atlas being immediately taken offline, Ga demanded.
German medical journal print
aerzteblatt.de
The Federal Hospital Atlas went live on May 17th. The directory is maintained by the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) operated.
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach promoted the project mainly against resistance from the federal states. Their goal: to increase transparency about the quality of hospitals so that patients can better find the clinics that are right for them.
However, there has been criticism of the directory from various quarters since its inception, including from the medical profession, as well as the ad hoc committee on care structures of the Scientific Medical Societies Working Group (AWMF). BMG had already made some updates and stated that the directory should be continually developed. There are no plans to disable the offer. © cmk/aerzteblatt.de