Clinic in Neuruppin does not close departments after all

The closure of two specialist departments at the university hospital in Neuruppin in north-west Brandenburg is off the table for this year. The district is injecting millions into the hospital, which is in the red. Due to the rescue plan, which the district described as an immense financial feat, there is a threat of cuts elsewhere. It had previously become known that plans to close the Elbe-Elster Clinic had also been withdrawn.

On Wednesday evening, the district council of Ostprignitz-Ruppin decided by a large majority to retain the two clinics for ear, nose and throat (ENT) and oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMF) - but they will be merged with the neurosurgery department. The district is providing around three million euros to save the clinics, according to the resolution. It is also granting the hospital company a loan of ten million euros to ensure solvency for the current financial year. The district council will also commission a restructuring report.

"The package of measures is intended to help secure the continued operation of our university hospital this year. However, this will also require financial efforts and cost-cutting measures that will demand a lot from everyone in the district and will be painful," said District Administrator Ralf Reinhardt (SPD) on Thursday. It will result in cuts for the residents of the district in many areas of everyday life, according to a statement from the district.

The district administrator referred to the federal government's responsibility for hospital financing: it must ensure a basis that secures their livelihood until the hospital structural reform takes effect. However, a decision by the mediation committee of the Bundestag and Bundesrat on financial stabilization of the clinics and more transparency for patients gives cause for hope, he said.

The so-called Transparency Act provides for regulations on additional liquidity in the billions for clinics in Germany. These should also receive a "transformation fund" with a view to a planned major hospital reform, for which 50 billion euros are planned for ten years from 2025. The sum was to be shared equally between the federal and state governments.

The closure plans for the specialist departments in Neuruppin had sparked protests in the region and concerns that healthcare provision in the region was being jeopardized. From January 1, no more inpatients were admitted to the two affected departments. According to the previous plan, no more patients were to be treated there from March.

The Ruppin-Brandenburg University Hospital, a so-called maximum care provider with around 870 beds (as of 2022), is in financial difficulties and is complaining about inadequate funding for hospitals from the federal government. Last December, it was reported that the loss for 2023 would be 8.3 million euros. The deficit for 2024 was expected to be similarly high.

The plans to close the gynaecology and paediatrics departments in Herzberg and the partial closure of the Finsterwalde site have also been withdrawn at the ailing Elbe-Elster Clinic, which has three sites.

An expert is to re-examine the economic situation and draw up a restructuring plan. The councillors recommended, for example, that the Herzberg hospital site be expanded for the members of the growing Holzdorf military base. In 2023, it was reported that the Elbe-Elster-Klinikum, which has a deficit of millions, wanted to largely consolidate inpatient care at two locations from June 2024.