Emergency care in Ortenaukreis: Red alert for patients!

Emergency care in Ortenaukreis: Red alert for patients!

Emergency care in Ortenaukreis is currently under enormous pressure. How bnn.de reported that the emergency practices in Achern and Wolfach were closed by the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians in October. This has led to a noticeable burden on hospital emergency rooms. Evelyn Bressau, the head of the health department, urgently warns of a threat to emergency care and the trust that the population has in it.

The main causes of the problems are an acute shortage of skilled workers, a complex healthcare system and inadequate support through telemedicine. In addition, a recent analysis by pwc.de that adequate pay is the most important incentive for many professionals to stay in nursing. This affects not only new but also experienced forces. Better working conditions and more staffing are also high on the list of wishes.

Emergency care at risk

With an increase in assaults and acts of violence in emergency rooms, which have increased from 48 to 172 cases since 2022, the situation is becoming even more tense. Patient flows have grown explosively in the five emergency rooms of the Ortenau Clinic. Between 2020 and 2024, the number of cases treated rose from 85,000 to almost 115,000. The most emergency rooms were in Offenburg, where over 46,000 cases were registered. Around 35 percent of patients are over 65 years old, which underlines the need for effective emergency care.

In order to be able to address the situation, the Social Committee has commissioned the Ortenaukreis Municipal Health Conference (KGK) to develop recommendations. The goal is to increase the health literacy of the population in order to better manage the demand for medical services. The focus is on educational campaigns, such as the poster campaign “Not every case is an emergency”, which is intended to raise awareness of the distinction between real emergencies and less urgent medical concerns.

Important measures for relief

A central component of this education is improving information about the medical on-call service on 116 117 and the emergency number 112. Alternatives to emergency rooms and ambulances should be communicated specifically via social media and the district office's health portal. Measures such as mandatory first aid courses in schools and the development of an SOS app for the region were also suggested.

In summary, it is clear: emergency care in Ortenaukreis is in a critical phase. In order to be able to counteract this, urgent reforms and greater efforts are required, both on the part of politicians and medical institutions. If it is possible to increase the health literacy of the population and better respond to the needs of citizens, trust in the health system could be strengthened again.