Bremer RKK will open its own practice

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In Bremen, the shortage of GPs is becoming a growing problem. Many practices cannot accept patients because they are overworked. Doctors who want to give up their practices due to age are finding it difficult to find successors. In some parts of the city, the situation is particularly tense – for example in Neustadt. That is about to change: The Red Cross Hospital (RKK) will be the first clinic in the Hanseatic city to enter the GP care sector on the left bank of the Weser with its own services.

What exactly is planned?

The RKK operates a medical care center (MVZ) with several general practitioners. The MVZ functions like a regular practice; it is an independent organizational form founded by the Neustadt hospital. “The plan is for us to start at the beginning of 2025,” says Martin Langenbeck, the clinic’s medical director. “The practice rooms are located in the Forum K medical center right next to the clinic; they will be modern and barrier-free.” The doctors work as employees.

According to the German Medical Association, more and more doctors are choosing to work as employees, while at the same time there is a trend towards flexible working hours. The RKK will take up this development with the “General Practitioner MVZ”. Specialists in general medicine or internal medicine in full-time and part-time positions, doctors in advanced training and medical assistants are now being urgently sought.

Why is the RKK getting involved in primary care?

“We have noticed that more and more patients are coming to the emergency room because they do not have a family doctor or cannot find a family doctor’s practice that still has capacity,” explains Langenbeck, who heads the central emergency room at the RKK as chief physician. The care situation in Neustadt is becoming increasingly tense.

With the MVZ, the clinic wants to help gradually expand the range of primary care services on the left bank of the Weser, explains the clinic’s commercial director, Walter Klingelhöfer. “At the same time, this will enable us to direct the flow of patients in our emergency room more effectively and reduce the waiting times for real emergencies.” Patients who come to the clinic without acute emergency problems can be referred directly to the MVZ.

Are there enough family doctors in Bremen?

According to the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KV) in Bremen, there is no mathematical undersupply. This would be determined if the number of GP care contracts (doctor’s positions) in the city of Bremen were less than 257. Currently, a good 354 full care contracts have been awarded. “Accordingly, we are mathematically far from an undersupply,” says KV board member Bernhard Rochell. “We do not have to declare a state of emergency in Bremerhaven either, but with 68 contracts awarded, the target is just undershot; an undersupply would be below 58 positions.”

However, the mathematical demand planning no longer reflects the reality for patients – overcrowded practices, long waiting times for appointments and admission freezes. The situation is made worse by the lack of medical assistants; in addition, the Bremen practices are also contact points for patients from Lower Saxony.

The KV is very concerned about the age structure of GPs: “In Bremen, a good 30 percent are older than 60,” says KV deputy chairman Peter Kurt Josenhans. “The number is alarmingly high in Bremerhaven, where it is almost 47 percent.” In the next few years, many GPs will retire and not all will find successors. “The situation in Bremen will be difficult,” says Josenhans. The chairmen are calling on politicians to take steps to attract young doctors to Bremen in addition to KV funding. Other states and municipalities have long since done this. “If nothing happens, we will experience some concerns here,” stresses Rochell.

Where are there too few general practitioners in Bremen?

Because the city of Bremen is considered a planning district, there are no district-specific figures according to the KV, but: “If you look at where there are particularly few general practitioners, we have a very unbalanced situation in Blumenthal and Vegesack,” says Josenhans. “In the west, this applies to Walle. There is little consistent care in Woltmershausen, Obervieland, Huchting and Neustadt. Oberneuland is also noticeable.” In the city of Bremen, a good 17 care contracts could currently be freely awarded without having to take over an existing practice, in Bremerhaven just under nine.

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