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The cornerstones of St. Gallen’s new hospital policy have been laid: the rural hospitals of Altstätten, Wattwil, Flawil and Rorschach will be closed, and Walenstadt will receive a two-year grace period. Reactions.
The district president, Bruno Damann, promotes the direction of the government in the council.
For the FDP, the closure of rural hospitals is “a decision of historical dimension”: Rarely, if ever, has a parliament closed hospitals. The party claims that the solution of the five plus four model debated on Wednesday by itself: already under the leadership of the health director of the FDP, Burkhard Vetsch, a “zone hospital model” was debated in 1995, which would concentrate the then eight rural hospitals in four main hospitals. and suggested a rural hospital.
Markus Bänziger, Director of IHK
The St. Gallen-Appenzell Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomes cross-party consensus in the Cantonal Council. The concentration of services in fewer hospital locations is “a commitment to overdue structural change in the St. Gallen hospital landscape,” the trade association says on demand. Director of IHK Markus Bänziger clings:
“Serious consideration of what is best for our healthcare ultimately prevailed over regional political considerations.”
With its decisions, the Cantonal Council recognizes that the focus should be on ensuring the quality of care and the ability to finance it.
Now is the time to take a look at the next camera. “In the future, there will be no way to avoid real cooperation between cantons in the health sector,” says Bänziger. The strategy that has been adopted gives the canton of St. Gallen a solid foundation in the debate about a sourcing region in the East.
Dario Sulzer, SP health politician
Dario Sulzer, The health politician of SP and the City Council of Wiler Canton, speaks of a “radical hospital abandonment” and of a “fundamental risky decision”. Six years ago, an overwhelming majority of the population of St. Gallen approved of the expansion of the hospitals:
“Back then, people not only said yes to multi-branch hospitals, but also said yes to the future of the regions in our circular canton.”
Years of pressure from the SVP, FDP and CVP, “bad words and hunger”, the “dubiously unilateral economic vision” of hospitals and the continuous “dismantling of services in regional public hospitals” by the hospital’s administrative council would have “fatal consequences”. With their hospitals, the regions are losing “much more than the medical services of a multi-branch hospital”. Rorschach, Fürstenland, the Rhine Valley and Toggenburg lost their hospital care. Walenstadt takes a breath.
Meinrad Gschwend, Green Cantonal Councilor
For the Greens, the first “hospital session day” ends with few surprises. The “four plus five” strategy, or the new “five plus four” strategy, as requested by the preliminary advisory commission, had been clearly confirmed. “In view of the difficult situation in which the hospital panorama of St. Gallen finds itself, this is not a bad decision”, says the Cantonal Council Meinrad Gschwend fixed on request:
“From my point of view there was no alternative.”
It is important that there is finally clarity. In those places that sooner or later lose their multi-branch hospital, improvements and clarifications are urgently needed to create clarity here too.
The medical society relies on a pilot project
Jürg Lymann, President of the St. Gallen Medical Association
Monika Simmler, Canton Council SP
The medical society of the canton of St. Gallen wants, impressed by the efforts of the intercantonal pilot project “Health Care Region Sardona” (Chur-Walenstadt-Glarus), to analyze the results of the first reading first and only then comment on how the president Juerg lymann notify.
Wednesday’s decisions were drastic for staff too, he says Monika Simmler, Board member of the VPOD Ostschweiz union: “There will be a loss of jobs in the regions.” The additional burden on central hospitals has consequences, the staff situation is already tense here.
The reorganization of the hospital landscape should not be done at the expense of “systemically important healthcare workers,” Simmler says. There should be no layoffs or deterioration of working conditions.
