Patients rejected from federal states: Doctors’ union accuses city of …

The decision of the Vienna Health Society to remove patients from the federal states, provided they are not emergency cases, would be a capitulation to the current staff shortage. City Councilman Peter Hacker must “admit his failure”.

“The order of the Vienna Health Society to remove patients from the federal states is the city’s resignation to the current staff shortage in Vienna’s hospitals,” says Stefan Ferense, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Korea for Working Physicians and Vice President of the Vienna Medical Center. organisation.

“It is disappointing that Red Vienna relies on a lack of solidarity in a health crisis. It is unacceptable that patients suffer from the failure of Viennese health policy and that financial disputes between federal states are played on the shoulders of patients and doctors.”

Instead of restricting services, the city should take initiatives to retain or bring back employees. It’s time for a councilor Peter Hacker (SPÖ, note) “He finally ended his dirt-bucket campaign against the Vienna Medical Society, admitted his failure and worked with us on measures to ensure care.”

The Viennese FPÖ also found an “unacceptable situation” on Friday that Vienna now has to do everything “under high pressure” to increase the number of medical staff so that the ailing health system does not collapse completely, health spokesman Wolfgang Seidl demands.

Admission only in emergencies

The background to the attack on the city government is that Vienna hospitals were directed, to treat patients who do not have their main place of residence in Vienna only if it is an emergency or if the highly specialized infrastructure of the Vienna hospitals is necessary for treatment. The newspaper “Die Presse” reported on Friday. The background to this decision is the increase in congestion in hospitals.

According to its own information, the Vienna Health Society has on average about 20 percent of guest patients. In some areas there are more. “In light of these numbers, we’re moving farther and farther from our mission,” says Evelyn Kolddorfer-Leitgeb, director general of the Health Network.

20 percent of the 700 patients a day, according to Michael Binder, medical director of the Vienna Health Society. “We are glad that our expertise is also valued in the federal states. But the clinics in Lower Austria and Burgenland also provide first-class medical services,” he says. And anyone who needs acute medical assistance in the federal capital will get it, too. Emergency treatment – for example in the event of a heart attack – will of course continue to be carried out. In the case of planned treatments and interventions, on the other hand, a hospital close to home is preferred for treatment.

(“Die Presse,” print edition, December 10, 2022)