Struggling Health Sector: Doctor's Practices in Schleswig-Holstein Are Short-Staffed
Numerous medical practices in Schleswig-Holstein are understaffed. - Numerous healthcare facilities in Schleswig-Holstein face staff shortages.
Get ready to hear a troubling tale, mate. Seems like doctor's practices in the ol' Schleswig-Holstein are facing a major personnel crisis, according to healthcare pals.
These days, medical assistants, or MFAs, are thin on the ground in Schleswig-Holstein clinics, if the Association of Medical Professions is to be believed. By the middle of last year, there were a mere 14,929 MFAs working in Schleswig-Holstein clinics, with numbers dwindling since 2021, as per Association President Hannelore König.
Why the decline, you ask? Well, it's the classic demographic issue, but for MFAs this time around. Many are retiring, and fewer trainees are stepping up to fill their shoes. But that's not all; MFAs are ditching the profession due to low wages compared to the level of responsibility, daily stress, and other similar health jobs, König explains.
"MFAs are the linchpin of clinics, and without 'em, a practice is almost nothing," Jens Lassen, Chairman of the House Doctors' Association Schleswig-Holstein, asserts. The work is challenging and exciting, but finding good MFAs is a tough nut to crack. Lassen couldn't provide exact figures, but he did mention that many practices in Schleswig-Holstein are desperate for MFAs.
This staff shortage translates to real problems for clinics. The limited staff implies lower capacity, which in turn means longer waiting times for patients, restricted services, and increased demand on doctors.
Delf Kröger, spokesperson for the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians Schleswig-Holstein, explains the predicament: "The shortage of skilled workers significantly impacts doctors."
The shortfall affects all medical specialties, and doctors find themselves in hot competition with established players like hospitals, which offer better incentives. "Proper funding for clinics is essential to attract good MFAs; they should be compensated like the valued assets they are," Kröger says.
The 2023 skilled labor shortage analysis for the Schleswig-Holstein/Hamburg region displayed warning signs of a shortage in four out of six criteria. The ratio of job seekers to vacancies remains low and only recovers post-exams. In Schleswig-Holstein, this number hovered above 1.1 for several months in 2024.
The ba-dam-bee boomer generation isn't helping, either, as they edge closer to retirement. Additionally, an increasing number of MFAs are needed to take some pressure off doctors. König predicts that the shortage will worsen if competition between doctor's practices and hospitals isn't leveled out.
"The salary should reflect the level of responsibility. It's no secret nurses undergo similar training and the same level of patient responsibility as MFAs, yet they earn more. The solution is straightforward: Increase collective wage agreements so that improvements are fully accounted for in the financing of healthcare services," König sums up.
In the end, resources and efforts need to be funneled into resolving the issue, or the future of clinics in Schleswig-Holstein may hang by a thread.
Major Themes:
- Medical shortage
- Clinics in Schleswig-Holstein
- Medical Assistants
- Wage disparities
Additional Insights:
Addressing personnel shortages in healthcare often involves strategies such as recruitment initiatives, training programs, and policy changes to improve working conditions and attract more professionals. These efforts are essential given the broader challenges faced by healthcare in Germany.
In Schleswig-Holstein, initiatives might include collaborative efforts between healthcare providers, educational institutions, and government bodies to enhance training programs for medical assistants and provide incentives for them to join or remain in the workforce. An integrated approach could potentially address the shortage in Schleswig-Holstein's doctor's practices.
Community policy should be implemented to address the wage disparities and working conditions in Schleswig-Holstein, which may attract more vocational training candidates to become medical assistants. Vocational training programs in science, health-and-wellness, and medical-conditions fields can help bolster the workforce in Schleswig-Holstein clinics, ensuring better health outcomes for the community.
