Controversy over the hospitalization rate
Clinics point to Lauterbach in the event of data gaps
1/24/2022 1:36 am
Things are not going well between the federal government and the hospitals. While the expert council blames the clinics for the fact that Covid patient data is not available every day, the head of the German Hospital Society tells a completely different story.
The German Hospital Society reacted with astonishment to the Expert Council’s demand for overdue daily reports on Covid patients in normal wards. The DKG pointed out to the editorial network Germany (RND) that it had already promised the federal government and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in autumn to provide this data. “In November, the hospital company offered the federal government in a written concept to transmit the data of patients with Covid-19 on a daily basis,” said DKG CEO Gerald Gass to the RND.
“At that time we were signaled that the data situation was sufficient from the point of view of the Federal Ministry of Health and the RKI,” emphasized Gass. He further reports that he was told that another solution was being worked on, without this being explained in any more detail. The head of the hospital was amazed: “This reaction irritated me a lot and even more so that to date there has been no further contact from the BMG or the RKI.” At the same time, the DKG boss signaled that the necessary figures could still be supplied. “If such data transmission is now desired, we can implement it for the clinics in Germany within six weeks,” said Gass.
Basically, the DKG CEO was annoyed that the clinics were not being heard enough. “I think it is urgent that key players in the fight against the pandemic, such as hospitals, are better involved in the federal government’s deliberations and planning,” demanded Gass. “We don’t all have to sit on the expert council. But when the official representatives of the clinics learn from journalists what measures the expert council is advising on with regard to the hospitals, that’s not only annoying, it’s also harmful in terms of fighting the pandemic.” Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is called upon to reorganize the cooperation immediately. Gaß summed it up: “There must be a regular exchange in the future. Then some problems can really be solved faster and more efficiently.”
Poor data on Covid patients in normal wards
The Corona Expert Council had previously complained about the inadequate digitization of the German healthcare system, which was responsible for the poor data situation, especially on Covid patients in normal wards in hospitals. Among other things, the “Bild” newspaper quotes from a “statement on digitization” by the experts for tomorrow’s federal-state round.
Although the pandemic has been going on for almost two years now, Germany is dependent on data from other countries for forecasts, since its own “supply data” in the health care system is “either not available at all, incomplete, or only available in machine-readable form with a considerable time delay for scientific evaluations”. write the experts accordingly. It is also criticized that earlier recommendations by experts to improve data collection were ignored.