Hessian local associations warn against underfunding of the emergency services

In view of the planned reform of emergency care, the Hessian Association of Cities and the Hessian District Association are calling for reliable and adequate financing of the emergency service. “The planned spending limits and reform measures endanger the efficiency of emergency medical care, public services and population protection,” said the President of the Hessian Association of Cities, Fulda’s Mayor Heiko Wingenfeld, and the President of the Hessian District Assembly, District Administrator Bernd Woide, according to the announcement.

At the same time, the municipal associations warned of new financial gaps as a result of the health care reform and the Statutory Health Insurance Contribution Rate Stabilization Act. The municipalities are the providers of the statutory rescue service and are responsible for organizing and ensuring it on site.

The associations emphasized that the rescue service is not a service that can be reduced. There is already economic, personnel and organizational pressure today. “Structural cost increases do not result from a lack of efficiency, but from real supply challenges,” they explained. Among other things, a shortage of skilled workers, wage increases, higher material costs and increasing numbers of deployments led to growing burdens.

Cities and districts have set a necessary provision so that staff, vehicles, guards and infrastructure are tied up. At the same time, tariffs, working hours, energy, rents and emergency medical costs rose. “If the increase framework is based on the basic wage amount, the result is a deficit or a shift in costs to the cities and districts.”

Underfunding jeopardizes any supply, said Woide. “Without complete refinancing, there is a risk of staff losses, staffing problems, higher sickness rates, investment backlogs and solutions on the cost side.” The federal and state governments are “called upon, together with the cost bearers, to create a reliable financing framework and to work together to ensure a robust, future-proof emergency services landscape,” explained Wingenfeld.

Among other things, the associations are not demanding any new requirements without secured refinancing, reliable cost impact assessments and reliable financing commitments, as well as long-term planning security for investments and personnel development.