Securing medical care - dialogue with the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians
An important visit to the district of Waldeck-Frankenberg: First District Councillor and Head of the Health Department Karl-Friedrich Frese was delighted to welcome the Chairman of the Board of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians in Hesse (KVH), Frank Dastych, to the district building. The KVH is responsible for ensuring outpatient GP and specialist care and is therefore an important factor in the infrastructure and quality of life in the region.
Frese explained that the district has been in loose contact with Mr Dastych and other decision-makers at the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians for years. On the occasion of the visit by the Chairman of the Board of Directors, he, as Head of the Health Department, had now agreed with Mr Dastych that regular meetings would take place in future. The purpose of the meetings is to discuss issues relating to medical care and to look for solutions together.
"Outpatient care is progressing, more and more medical services are to be provided in practices and no longer in hospitals," says the first district councillor, naming one of the topics. The district must proactively prepare for this and help to ensure that doctors in private practice in Waldeck-Frankenberg can fulfil the new requirements.
GP care in Waldeck-Frankenberg has recently stabilised, primarily due to larger group practices and new forms of cooperation between doctors in practices with several locations. Nevertheless, there are still GP vacancies that the KVH is currently unable to fill. "That's why we want to look for new ways together," emphasise Frese and Dastych. One possibility would be for doctors in private practice to set up second practices, in which the towns and municipalities would have to be involved by creating favourable conditions for practice premises. "We can imagine providing financial support for such initiatives," says the Chairman of the Board of Directors, commenting on the position of the Hesse Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. These considerations should be steered and moderated throughout the district.
Another topic of the working meeting in the district hall was the difficult situation regarding paediatric care in the Korbach area. Despite the expansion of the practice of Korbach paediatrician Dr Meike Bökemeier, there is an urgent need for an additional paediatrician; the town of Korbach has already launched its own initiatives in this regard. KVH Chairman Dastych has now also offered to hold joint talks with the town of Korbach and the district of Waldeck-Frankenberg in order to develop a concrete solution.
Another topic of discussion: the emergency medical and ambulance services for which the district is responsible. "Due to the upcoming reorganisation at the Arolsen hospital, combined with the discontinuation of the emergency department, we are currently planning the reorganisation in the Bad Arolsen and Nordwaldeck area," Frese explained. Until now, ambulances and emergency doctors have regularly travelled to a hospital for basic and emergency care, which must remain the same. Nevertheless, GP practices could also be involved in emergency care in individual cases. KVH and the district want to work on this new approach and propose trialling it in a pilot project to the responsible Hessian Ministry of Health.