The Lorenz Böhler case

Hospital closure so “unacceptable” for Vienna City Hall

Vienna's City Councillor for Health Peter Hacker accuses the AUVA of breaking agreements due to the closure of the "Lorenz Böhler" center, while the Medical Association sees devastating consequences for the entire Viennese healthcare system.

(Bild: Peter Tomschi)

With the sudden closure of the Lorenz Böhler Center in Vienna, AUVA has not only caused uncertainty among staff and patients, but has also broken agreements with the city, says City Councillor for Health Hacker. The actions of the "sleeping" hospital management are "unacceptable".

As City Councillor for Health, Peter Hacker was aware of the plans to close the Lorenz Böhler Hospital run by AUVA - but the plans were different to those that are now apparently to be implemented. "This was not agreed and is unacceptable," Hacker is now angry with the hospital management.

Hacker insists on firm commitments from AUVA
It had been agreed that existing medical teams would "relocate one-to-one to new locations" - specifically the AKH and the Meidling Accident Hospital, where there was enough free space - "and continue there as before, just at a different address", says Hacker. In any case, the AUVA has guaranteed that it will maintain patient care to the same extent as before despite the hospital closure and will take care of it itself. However, this promise has already been broken.

It was clearly and firmly agreed that the overall performance of the Lorenz Böhler Hospital would be maintained.

Gesundheitsstadtrat Peter Hacker

Bild: PID/VOTAVA

"You can't just send people into the desert"
He is already aware of several Böhler patients whose long-planned operations have now been canceled without replacement, Hacker told the Krone newspaper: "The management has to do its job. You can't just cancel operations and send people into the desert." According to Hacker, the hospital management must also finally "roll up its sleeves" when it comes to communicating with its own staff. It is not acceptable to "leave your own staff hanging in the air".

Will everything be closed from April 2?
In fact, the staff will only find out on Monday where they are to be moved to - and soon: the hospital's wards will reportedly be vacated as early as April 2. Hacker does not share the predictions of the Medical Association (see below) that the closure of the hospital could drag down the Viennese healthcare system. A "sequel to Nostradamus won't get us one millimeter further. We have nothing to gain from doomsaying."

Even the spontaneous staff meeting at the hospital on Thursday caused queues of patients.

(Bild: zVg)

Emergency care is guaranteed and the closed hospital makes no difference to the journey times of ambulances to hospitals, emphasizes Hacker. However, planned operations would have to take place at other locations and the outpatient clinic would have to remain open on site, but, according to Hacker, "the management is asleep right now" - a sleep that could have devastating consequences for the whole of Vienna, according to the Medical Association.

Doctors fear that "frustrated staff will leave"
The Chamber warns of a "catastrophe" for the entire Viennese healthcare system, as it is not just about the loss of capacity to treat 65,000 patients a year, but a snowball effect that could also spread to the other Viennese hospitals.The division of the existing teams at the Lorenz Böhler Hospital to other hospitals would cause unrest and stress for the Lorenz Böhler teams as well as the other hospitals, with the "consequence that experienced staff would leave in frustration".

The AUVA management is putting accident surgery care in Vienna at risk. There is no alternative to continuing the hospital.

Unfallchirurgen-Obmann Heinz Brenner

"Staff burnout is pre-programmed"
Natalja Haninger-Vacariu, the new chamber representative for employed doctors, warns that the closure of the hospital will put even more pressure on medical staff in Vienna: "Staff burnout is inevitable and the exodus that is already taking place would accelerate dramatically."

Heinz Brenner - not only Chairman of the Vienna Trauma Surgeons' Association, but also part of the staff at Brigittenau Hospital himself - emphasizes that the hospital management has known about the need to renovate the hospital for ten years, but has done nothing and has not responded to the insistence of the building police or the doctors' suggestions for continued operation. A functioning accident hospital of this size is "indispensable" in a growing city of two million people. The hospital must therefore continue to operate at full capacity without interruption. If the AUVA management does not accept this, "industrial action cannot be ruled out".