Wolfratshausen District Clinic: Mayor calls for support for the future!

Wolfratshausen District Clinic: Mayor calls for support for the future!

There are signs of change in Wolfratshausen: an information evening about the district clinic recently took place, organized by the Wolfratshausen Citizens' Association (BVW) and local parties such as the CSU, Greens, SPD and FDP. BVW chairwoman Kathrin Kugler emphasized the need for joint efforts for the hospital. Mayor Klaus Heilinglechner, who has been on the clinics' supervisory board since 2014, spoke about the financial challenges facing the facility and emphasized the importance of maintaining two clinics in the district to avoid an "unlikely gap" that could result from the closure of the district clinic.

A central point of the discussion was a look at the numbers: The clinic's managing director Ingo Kühn reported that the Wolfratshausen district clinic achieved sales of around 25 million euros last year, which corresponds to an increase of more than 15 percent. Despite this increase, the clinic closed the 2024 financial year with a deficit of three million euros, which corresponds to a huge loss of 19,000 euros per bed. For comparison: the Weilheim-Schongau clinic even reported a loss of over 39,000 euros per patient bed.

Financial burdens and future prospects

In the discussion about the financing of the clinic, the dependence on government subsidies was also discussed. The city of Wolfratshausen has approved a record budget of 74.65 million euros for 2025, with the deficit compensation for the district clinic amounting to 10.3 million euros. This amount is made up of various items - 1.8 million euros for the district nursing home in Lenggries, 3.6 million euros as a hospital levy and around 500,000 euros for the maternity ward as well as around 600,000 euros for midwifery care and general rescue services. Only 3.7 million euros flow directly to the district clinic.

Mayor Heilinglechner praised the city's support and discussed future planning. The administration has shown a good knack for finances, even if personnel costs increase from 1.6 million euros to 16.68 million euros due to tariff increases and increasing district levies.

Personnel and supply

A ray of hope in the difficult financial situation is that the district clinic currently employs 524 people, including 80 doctors and 240 nursing staff, and can look forward to successful recruitment from abroad. In contrast to many other facilities, there are no vacancies in nursing, which has also contributed to reducing the average length of stay for patients from 19 days to currently just 4.2 days. However, this development is also tied to strict documentation requirements, which can have financial consequences if the length of stay is exceeded.

Medical Director Dr. Stefan Schmidbauer, who shares the concerns about sufficient financing, speaks together with managing director Kühn in favor of improving the clinic's financial resources. Given the rising operating costs, everyone involved is faced with the challenge of maintaining the district clinic as the region's lifeline.

These problems are not an isolated case: the financial situation in the entire German healthcare system is becoming increasingly precarious, which can be explained not least by the increasing healthcare expenditure. In 2022, this amounted to 498 billion euros, which corresponds to 12.8 percent of gross domestic product - third place in a global comparison, behind the USA and Canada Federal Agency for Civic Education reported.

The city and those responsible for the district clinic therefore ask all citizens to support the clinic in its difficult situation. Ultimately, it is in all of our interests to secure long-term medical care in Wolfratshausen.