District hospital: caring for people, making the clinic fit for the future
The planned hospital reform is currently presenting many hospitals - especially small ones - with major challenges. This is because it envisages that smaller hospitals will only provide basic care for people. They will no longer be able to perform more complex procedures without specialisation. Against this background, the district hospital in Frankenberg and the district of Waldeck-Frankenberg as the responsible body are also working together on a strategy for the hospital - with two main goals:
- To continue to provide good quality care to patients in the region.
- To make the hospital fit for the future - also against the backdrop of the restructuring resulting from the hospital reform.
"We are thinking in all directions," emphasises District Administrator Jürgen van der Horst again as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the hospital. The district hospital and the district are currently sounding out all possibilities, holding numerous talks and are in close exchange with all stakeholders, existing or future partners and also the sponsors of the district hospital. "But we need a good plan. In view of the structural reform, the situation is much more complex than it first appears," the district administrator emphasises. "For example, establishing a cardiac catheter laboratory in Frankenberg alone is not enough."
"It needs a holistic concept. And we are working on that." Thanks are due to the Friends for all the support they have provided so far and will continue to provide in the future. However, strategic decisions would have to be made at another level. "We have already discussed this in joint talks with the management, the works council and the support association." From the many discussions, one thing in particular became very clear: all those involved are determined to set the course so that the district hospital remains a reliable and high-quality healthcare provider in Waldeck-Frankenberg in the future and under the changing framework conditions.
Van der Horst emphasises: "It is about finding the golden mean: Between diagnostic and therapeutic options that we offer ourselves in the district hospital and services where our patients benefit more from the professional expertise of a specialised medical partner." The ultimate goal is to ensure that people from the region receive the best treatment for them with the best chances of recovery.
"It is obvious that as a basic and standard care facility we cannot and do not have to offer all diagnostic and therapeutic procedures ourselves, and this has already been the case in the past". In our concept, we will bundle the best offers and develop the optimal medical care offer for all people from the region, the district administrator makes clear. In doing so, the hospital wants to continue to cooperate with local practices, medical service providers and maximum care providers such as university hospitals in the future.