2024-02-20 18:08:56
Overloaded practices, impending collapse: The general practitioners’ association is making another appeal to the Minister of Health and is calling for reforms. But how serious is the situation really?
Busy telephones, no available appointments, overcrowded waiting rooms and overworked staff: the Association of General Practitioners blames not only the ongoing flu epidemic, but also the health system and Karl Lauterbach (SPD) in particular.
Almost six weeks ago, the Federal Minister of Health rightly stated that primary care was in crisis and, in this context, presented a series of measures to strengthen primary care, according to a current statement from the association. But “we are still looking in vain for solid draft laws.”
General practitioners are urging Lauterbach to speed up reforms
“Announcements are all well and good. But announcements alone will not provide anyone with better care and will not relieve the burden on any practice,” said the federal chair of the Association of General Practitioners, Prof. Dr. Nicola Buhlinger-Göpfarth and Dr. Markus Beier continues. Time is slowly running out and the practices urgently need help in the fight against the impending collapse. Because “there is already a shortage of almost 5,000 family doctors nationwide.” And: With regard to the age structure, it must be clear to everyone that the situation will become extremely serious in the coming years.
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Lauterbach announced at the beginning of the year that he would relieve the burden on medical practices by removing budget caps and reducing bureaucracy. He emphasized at the time that the relief and improvements would be noticeable soon.
However, the association chairmen do not only see Lauterbach as responsible. They appeal to the entire traffic light coalition: “End the deadlock and finally put your words into action.” Otherwise, primary care, which is valued by millions of voters, will increasingly disappear.
There is a noticeable shortage of doctors in many regions
What the General Practitioners Association is currently sharply criticizing has been clearly noticeable for many patients for a long time: they have to wait longer and longer for appointments, waiting times in practices are increasing and there is less and less time to talk to the doctor. In many places, family doctor practices have to close without a successor.
“The demand for family doctor care is increasing from year to year, while at the same time there are fewer and fewer family doctors available,” explained family doctor boss Dr. Markus Beier in conversation with t-online at the beginning of February.
In fact, according to the German Medical Association, the growth in the number of doctors in Germany is falling short of expectations.
Report from the German Medical Association (as of 2022)
The number of working doctors increased slightly by 1.2 percent to around 421,000 in 2022. However, the proportion of general practitioners is continually falling.
In addition, a large proportion of the medical profession will be retiring in the coming years. In 2022, almost half of all doctors (46 percent) were over the age of 50. 28 percent of all specialists are 60 years of age and older. According to the German Medical Association, it is still uncertain whether this loss of working time can be compensated for in the future.
The vacant family doctor positions will certainly not be filled by junior doctors and immigrant doctors in equal numbers. On the one hand, this is because few young doctors decide to become family doctors. On the other hand, young doctors increasingly prefer employed relationships and part-time models instead of individual practices.
Forecast: This is how many general practitioners could be missing by 2035
According to a study by the Robert Bosch Foundation, around 11,000 family doctor positions in Germany will be unfilled in 2035, and almost 40 percent of the districts will be underserved or at risk of underserving. It could therefore become difficult in the future for citizens in Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony and Baden-Württemberg to find a family doctor. In some districts, the number of general practitioners will decline by around 50 percent by 2035, according to the study authors.
While the shortage of family doctors has so far been known to be a problem primarily in rural regions, urban areas will increasingly be affected in the foreseeable future: According to the forecast, there will be around 20 percent fewer family doctors in some medium-sized cities by 2035.
At the same time, the need for medical care is also changing: Due to the aging population, the spectrum of illnesses is shifting and there will be more people with chronic and multiple illnesses. Therefore, it is not enough to simply increase the number of general practitioners. Specialists and rehabilitation facilities will also be in greater demand in the future than ever before.