The German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI) continues to see considerable deficits in the cabinet draft for the reform of emergency care. In a detailed statement, the professional society calls in particular for independent quality assurance structures, clear management responsibility for the Integrated Emergency Centres (INZ) as well as binding standards and a uniform digital infrastructure.

Although DIVI welcomes important corrections compared to earlier versions of the draft, it urges urgent improvements. The draft contains positive approaches, but is not sufficient in central points to ensure patient safety in the long term, explained Professor Sabine Blaschke, lead author of the statement and spokesperson for the DIVI Emergency Documentation Section.

The focus of the criticism is:

• Quality assurance: The DIVI rejects self-evaluation by the service providers and calls for independent, neutral data and evaluation structures at the federal level.
• Governance of the Integrated Emergency Centres: The organisational and technical responsibility must clearly lie with the hospitals.
• Structured initial assessment: This must be supplemented by clinical safety nets (red flag criteria, maximum waiting times, mandatory audits) in order not to endanger vulnerable patient groups.
• Digital networking: Interoperable, cross-sectoral digital emergency documentation is needed along the entire rescue chain and, in the future, a nationwide emergency register.

In addition, the DIVI calls for binding minimum staffing standards for emergency rooms and adequate refinancing of maintenance costs. The emergency room must be made visible as an independent care structure.

Patient safety must be the explicit guiding principle of the reform – not just a side effect, emphasized DIVI President Prof. Florian Hoffmann. The new Secretary General, Prof. Alexander Zarbock, added that the focus must remain on dynamic clinical pictures and vulnerable patient groups.

DIVI welcomes the planned greater digitalization, but does not yet see the opportunity for a truly uniform infrastructure sufficiently used. The professional society is offering its expertise to the legislator for further revisions before the Federal Council deliberates on the draft in just over three weeks.

The complete statement of the DIVI on the cabinet draft is available on the website of the professional society.

Editor: X-Press Journalistenbüro GbR

Gender Notice. The personal designations used in this text always refer equally to female, male and diverse persons. Double/triple naming and gendered designations are used for better readability ected.