No free surgery slot

Hospital odyssey for Styrian woman (76) has repercussions

Four hospitals refused to admit the acute patient.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com - Gorodenkoff Productions OU)

The case of the 76-year-old patient who was admitted to Bruck Regional Hospital but could not be operated on there - or in Leoben - is making waves. The regional SPÖ (Social Democratic Party of Austria) is pushing for security of care, the FPÖ is taking the case to the provincial parliament. 

The hospital in Bruck, where the woman was admitted at 2.30 p.m. on Thursday with upper abdominal pain, was unable to operate on her, Leoben and Graz University Hospital turned her down due to capacity bottlenecks, Ottakring Hospital and Vienna General Hospital (understandably) did not feel responsible: The case of the 76-year-old Styrian woman who needed urgent surgery for an acute vascular occlusion caused a wave of outrage.

It was only after repeated urging that the patient finally ended up on the operating table in Graz at around 8 p.m. - complications followed.

I am calling on those responsible at Kages to provide rapid clarification and a hospital structure that guarantees healthcare for the population. This also includes immediate measures to prevent such incidents in the future.

Stefan Hofer, Bürgermeister von Turnau und SPÖ-Landtagsabgeordneter

Bild: Weeber Heinz

Resolution of the SPÖ
"The incident is dramatic and shocking. The SPÖ mayors of the region warned of such a situation some time ago and introduced a resolution to this effect. I demand that those responsible at Kages clarify the situation quickly," Stefan Hofer, Mayor of Turnau and SPÖ Member of Parliament, harshly criticizes.

The FPÖ is taking the matter to the provincial parliament: "This case must be subjected to closer political scrutiny, which is why we will be submitting a question on the matter. Unfortunately, this tragic incident is also due to increasing centralization. We therefore need a trend reversal in healthcare policy; the thinning out of the regions must come to an end," says Blue Party healthcare spokesperson Marco Triller.

Erich Schaflinger, Medical Director of LKH Hochsteiermark, emphasized to the "Krone" that the "patient is on the road to recovery, the woman is now responsive and has been transferred back to Leoben". "However, it is undeniable that we do not have optimal care everywhere in the region," he says.

Erich Schaflinger, Medical Director of the LKH Hochsteiermark network

(Bild: Peter Bernthaler)

More money for anaesthetists
For this reason, new measures such as increased cooperation with Judenburg, the implementation of a fourth duty cycle at the Leoben site or, for example, higher remuneration for the anaesthetists at LKH Hochsteiermark have long been in the pipeline.