Castling in the south

Styrian hospital landscape changes again

Voitsberg LKH will in future be part of the "LKH Graz II" network.

(Bild: Juergen Radspieler (Symbolbild))

Changes on January 1: Voitsberg LKH moves to the "Graz West" network, Deutschlandsberg LKH joins Wagna and Radkersburg. What will change for patients and staff - and why there is already the first political uproar. 

Once again, the Styrian hospital map is changing - this time, however, not unexpectedly in the short term, but planned for a long time. The previous Western Styria Hospital Association will be dissolved, Voitsberg Hospital will be connected to "Graz II" and Deutschlandsberg, together with Wagna and Bad Radkersburg, will form the new Southwestern Styria Hospital Association from January 1st (see graphic).

"The traffic routes from the Voitsberg district lead towards Graz, the population is moving there," says Kages CEO Gerhard Stark, who sees this as a logical step, even though he notes: "The path we took back then with Deutschlandsberg was the right one."

(Bild: Krone KREATIV)

Smaller locations would also have better opportunities in larger alliances. Above all, they become more attractive for employees, says Stark: "As a young doctor, you have more rotation opportunities during your training and can work in many areas."

Each hospital with its own focus
Othmar Grabner, Medical Director of LKH Südweststeiermark, agrees. In future, this will cover a very large area from the Pack to the Kutschenitza. "We are improving care because each hospital has its own focus." Taking surgery as an example: Wagna is the acute care center where trauma surgery is provided around the clock. In Deutschlandsberg, the focus is on day clinic and outpatient care. And in Bad Radkersburg there are only planned operations with a focus on orthopaedics (hip prostheses etc.).

Over the next year, everything is to be phased in step by step. "Patients should be spared pointless journeys as far as possible," says Grabner. For example, if someone in Eibiswald breaks a spoke in a fall, they can be treated in Deutschlandsberg - a trauma surgeon from Wagna is connected via telemedicine.  

The separation of unplanned and planned interventions is being enforced throughout Styria, confirms Gerhard Stark, who - despite the slightly relaxed staffing situation - is pushing for further reforms in the hospital structure: "We must use synergies and make ourselves fit for the coming years. In 1965 we had 23,000 births, in 2023 it was 10,500," he says, illustrating the demographic dilemma.

Excitement in Voitsberg: shorter outpatient clinic times
One step is the integration of Voitsberg into the LKH Graz II network: "This completes internal care at the highest level," says Medical Director Michael Lehofer. The oncology outpatient clinic and the focus on geriatric medicine in Voitsberg are a very good addition. There will be no changes to the departments in Voitsberg, although the opening hours of the surgical outpatient clinic will be restricted to 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. - a move that has drawn fierce criticism from the red mayors Jochen Bocksruker (Bärnbach) and Bernd Osprian (Voitsberg).