The clinic group Helios also made profits in the crisis year 2020 and is offering investors the prospect of higher dividends. At the same time is after mdr-Research staff too scarce to deal with emergencies.
By C. Haentjes, C. Huppertz, I. Dippmann and S. Kloppmann, mdr The Heart Center Leipzig is one of the leading specialist clinics for heart medicine in Europe. But staff is so tightly planned here that emergencies often cannot be accepted, say various doctors at the clinic mdr news magazine Exakt. You want to remain anonymous; they fear losing their jobs – and legal consequences. The doctors report, among other things, that almost every third day the emergency control center should be signaled that they should not be approached. “It is the case that our intensive care unit cannot fulfill its care assignment for a large part of the time and has to cancel the admission of acutely ill patients,” says a doctor who wants to remain anonymous. “We have to cancel patients who have an appointment for a routine admission and put them off at some point without looking at them. It’s a lottery if I don’t know the patient.” There are always patients who die on the waiting list, said the doctor.
For treatment in another federal state
This is not only the case at the previous highs of the corona pandemic – it also occurs in normal emergencies: heart attacks, acute cardiac insufficiency or pulmonary embolisms. Such emergencies require immediate treatment or valuable time is lost. For example in the case of a so-called aortic dissection: a cardiac surgical emergency in which the chance of survival drops by five percent every hour. A clinic in Leipzig asked the heart center about this. Without success, says another doctor, who also wants to remain anonymous. “This patient could not be admitted to the clinic because it was not possible to operate or monitor an operated patient. For personal reasons. He had to be transported far away. To another federal state.” mdr Exactly ask at the clinic. She replies in writing: “We are aware of the case. This transfer was (…) rejected by us due to the situation. (…) We had a very busy intensive care unit that day.” The clinic admits that there have also been cancellations from the rescue control center, and at the same time emphasizes that this only affected non-life-threatening emergencies. The clinic denies all other allegations made by the doctors. Any capacity bottlenecks are due to the corona pandemic. But there have long been disputes – also in court – about overtime regulations.
Further downsizing planned?
Across from mdr Exactly the heart center confirms plans to cut staff. There are plans of this kind in other Helios clinics as well, says the chairwoman of the Marburger Bund doctors’ union, Susanne Johna: “In fact, we hear from our members in almost all regional associations that the Helios group should cut medical positions. It seems that way That Helios plans to cut about ten percent of the doctor’s positions in the company. And that means that the doctors who stay will have to work even more overtime. ” Obviously, it’s about profitability. Internal reports that mdr Exactly show that the heart clinic’s profit in the Corona year 2020 was 23 million euros before interest and taxes. That is an increase of 43 percent compared to 2019. The shareholders are promised higher dividends. Nevertheless, cuts are also planned in the Leipzig Heart Center. According to information from mdr Exactly as many doctors as possible should reduce their working hours to 95 percent. Fixed-term contracts are reported to expire in April. That would be in the middle of the third corona wave – i.e. exactly when the need for staff is particularly high. The clinic, however, speaks of June.
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