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Amid the increasing burden on psychiatry, the UPD Bern is cutting key services. The resistance is growing.
What happened? The University Psychiatric Services (UPD, formerly Waldau) is one of the largest psychiatric centers in Switzerland. Last week, the UPD University Hospital announced a painful austerity program: Among other things, the Metro leisure center and the wood workshop will be closed and the so-called Recovery College Bern will no longer receive financial and personnel support. Social service positions will also be lost; a total of 25 people will be affected. According to UPD, the closures are mainly due to a lack of financial support from the canton.
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The UPD Metro leisure center has to close.
YouTube/Metro
What do those affected say? At the Metro leisure center, for example, patients and relatives were able to recover from everyday psychiatric care. Around 1,000 people took advantage of the offer. Now the metro is being eliminated. Those affected are dismayed – and believe that the costs will ultimately increase as a result of the closure: “This is a catastrophe for us: you close it to save money, but the exact opposite happens afterwards. “If some of us have to be admitted and thus generate costs again,” says one affected person who suffers from anxiety disorders.
What are the reactions? Resistance is forming against the UPD’s plans: As the television program Schweiz aktuell reports, professional associations handed over a petition to the canton on Thursday. The alliance of professional and health organizations also emphasized in a statement that the care situation in the area of mental health in the canton of Bern is already precarious. With the cancellation of the offers there is a risk of a further drastic loss of quality. “The austerity measures mean that those affected need more help from clinics and thus cause higher costs,” emphasizes SP Councilor Manuela Kocher.
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Those affected are shocked by the UPD’s decision to dismantle.
SRF
What do experts say? Offers like the Metro are urgently needed, says Dirk Richter, professor of psychiatric rehabilitation research at the Bern University of Applied Sciences. “This is absolutely fatal for the people affected,” said Richter. There is generally a huge problem with the financing and organization of mental health care. “The cuts affect leisure activities for people who already live relatively socially isolated lives and who sometimes feel lonely. “They now no longer have their only point of contact with other people,” regrets the psychiatry professor.
Legend:
The University Psychiatric Services (UPD, formerly Waldau) is one of the largest psychiatric centers in Switzerland
Keystone/Alessandro della Valle
What does the psychiatric center say? People are aware that the measures are painful for employees and those affected. Oliver Grossen, chairman of the UPD management, also indirectly criticizes the canton of Bern. “If certain services are not funded, we see this as a signal that these services are no longer desired.” He therefore expects the responsible health department to sit down together and talk about all the offers.
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Health Minister Pierre Alain Schnegg says it is at the discretion of the UPD whether or not to finance additional services.
Keystone/Anthony Anex
What does the canton say? The responsible government councilor Pierre Alain Schnegg explained to SRF that with the reorganization certain jobs would be transferred from one area to the other. He assumes that the deletions will have no impact between outpatient and inpatient use. In addition, UPD, which has been independent since 2017, has the discretion to finance or not finance additional offers that do not fall under the basic service.