Berlin. There are very few doctors in Germany. The head of management at the Federal Ministry of Health, Boris Velter, highlighted this. “We have to make it clearer together, without complaining or making references to an imminent apocalypse, that there is a real problem in the field of medicine,” Velter said during a panel discussion at the Federal Training Congress for General Medicine 2024 on Friday night. fair. . Title: “How should family medical care be guaranteed in the future?”
The moments when a “Too many doctors” the conversation is over, Velter said. Even family medical care is now receiving more attention. However, the new federal states in particular would be hit hard by the shortage of doctors. He also said this against the backdrop that the ministry and parts of the coalition have struggled to organize 5,000 additional study sites. “The number of study places is not enough”Velter said.
“And the cabin outside is on fire!”
In this context, Velter described efforts to increase the attractiveness of the family doctor profession, as well as to reduce barriers to establishment and organize care not only through the MVZ as a “construction site of the century”. These efforts also include debudgeting primary care. “This might at least resolve some frustrations,” Velter said. It is also important to recognize the role of doctors in emergency care. The vast majority of people with an acute problem consulted their family doctor or pediatrician. “Millions of emergency visits happen there every day,” Velter said.
Professor Nicola Buhlinger-Göpfarth, Federal President of the German Association of General Practitioners, highlighted the immobility of current structures. “For decades we have been trapped in the rigid collective agreement system, where nothing, absolutely nothing, is done by family doctors,” said Buhlinger-Göpfarth, a proven supporter of Family Doctor Centered Care (HZV). This has led to a current shortage of 5,000 GPs across the country. Those who were still there worked for those who were missing. “The cabin outside is on fire,” warned the general practitioner. A lot has to change, in medical studies, in the implementation of the 2020 master plan, in continuous training in general practice, demanded Buhlinger-Göpfarth.
2020 master plan on the sidelines
“We all suspect that the master plan for 2020 will not arrive,” said Professor Jean François Chenot, vice-president of the German Society for General Medicine and Family Medicine (DEGAM). This plan was decided on March 31 by the then Federal Minister of Health Hermann Gröhe, the Minister of Research Professor Johanna Wanke (both CDU), the Conference of State Education Ministers and the members of the grand coalition of the Union and the SPD . Among other things, it includes a longitudinal integration of general medicine into all phases of the course. No additional money was made available for implementation at the time.
An alternative must now be quickly considered, Chenot said. Chenot called the study’s focus on hospital care, where only a small proportion of patients are cared for, “absurd.” Instead, in addition to general medicine, outpatient pediatrics and outpatient gynecology should also be promoted. Chenot denied the need to increase the number of vacancies.
Funds are demanding more medical assistants
Ulrike Elsner, president of the association for substitute health insurance (vdek), cited cooperation, delegation and the use of modern technology as ways to solve the expected shortage of general medical care in the future. This also included structures other than individual and group practices of doctors.
Additionally, Physician Assistants would also have to be more closely involved in care. She referred to surrogate insurance models in which the use of medical assistants would be tested in both outpatient care and regular appointment times. (af)