The next call for help from the hospitals: the staff situation is precarious, the emergency rooms are full. The first voices are already thinking about an ambulance fee. Will we soon have to pay for the hospital?
Another bad news from the hospitals! In the child and adolescent psychiatry at the Linz Kepler University Hospital (KUK) there is medical bloodletting: the primary and senior physician are retiring at the end of April, and a specialist is moving to another ward. From May 1st, only one specialist and one assistant doctor will remain in the children’s ward at Med Campus IV – plus an interim head. This is reported to the “Krone” by an employee who wants to remain anonymous for fear of consequences: “The situation is precarious, but almost nobody dares to speak openly.” Days before his retirement: “We can treat fewer children, we have to refer them to the established area or to the regional hospitals.” Although you can represent each other internally through the second location of the youth psychiatric department in the Kepler University Hospital, “but the staffing is extremely thin “So thin that the children’s ward at Med Campus IV had to be temporarily cleared and closed in August, according to an employee. The reason: This is the only way the only remaining specialist doctor can take a vacation. KUK Managing Director Franz Harnoncourt refers to the EU-wide lack of specialists for child psychiatry. The two retirement-related vacancies were advertised in good time, “however, it is difficult to reach applicants”.137 positions are currently vacant in the Kepler Klinikum. There are currently 48 unfilled medical positions in the Kepler University Hospital, with almost 900 doctors working in the Linz hospital. The KUK advertised a total of 137 jobs. In addition to child and adolescent psychiatry, other areas are also affected: every tenth bed is blocked due to the lack of staff, patients have to lie “crisscross” (we reported). Emergency room overloadedAnd the emergency room is bursting at the seams: “The situation is enormously stressful “, says KUK boss Harnoncourt. “We appeal to visit a hospital outpatient clinic only in an emergency or with an agreed appointment.”Other hospital operators even want to think about a deductible for outpatient clinic visits: If you want to go to the hospital, you should pay. It is hoped that patients will first see their family doctor and not go straight to the hospital.
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