CDU on health and care

The CDU wants to secure medical care across the state by attracting more health professionals. It plans additional university places in medicine, dentistry and pharmacy and wants to make it easier to open or take over a practice.

The CDU wants enough doctors everywhere in the state. More people should be able to study medicine. The same goes for dentistry and pharmacy. People who want to open a doctor's office should get more help.

The program calls for additional university places in human medicine, dentistry and pharmacy. Funding programs for founding and taking over practices are to grow, and red tape is to be cut. Students and young doctors are to be brought in early through networks, mentoring and business training; cooperative practice models and part-time arrangements are supported. The rural doctor quota is to be reviewed and adjusted if needed, and applicants with ties to Saxony-Anhalt are to get more weight in admissions. The CDU also wants to strengthen local pharmacies and lobby for this at the federal level.

The CDU wants to turn hospital sites into specialized centers within regional care networks by 2030. Outpatient and inpatient treatment are to be closely linked, while basic and emergency care stays close to where people live.

The CDU wants to change hospitals by 2030. Each hospital should have clear specialties. Hospitals and doctors' offices should work together more closely. Emergency help should stay close to home.

Specialization and quality are to go together with nearby basic and emergency care. Public, nonprofit and private hospitals are to remain side by side on an equal footing. Integrated care centers, planning across sectors and cooperation with other states are meant to shorten procedures and travel; complex treatments are to be concentrated. Medical care centers and health campus models, where doctors, nursing, therapy and social services work together, are to become a backbone of care, whether run by municipalities, cooperatives or private nonprofit operators. The CDU also backs a primary care model.

The CDU wants to reorganize emergency care with a master plan for ground and air rescue. Remote emergency physicians are to be used statewide, and first aid is to be a regular part of school lessons by 2030.

The CDU wants to improve rescue services. There should be one big plan for ambulances and rescue helicopters. Emergency doctors should also help by video everywhere. Children should learn first aid at school.

The plan includes a master plan for ground and air rescue, remote emergency physicians across the state, community paramedics and new dispatch center technology. Digital systems, drones for reconnaissance and supply, and new mobility solutions are to be tested. By 2030, first aid and resuscitation are to be taught in schools.

The CDU wants to push at the federal level for a far-reaching reform of long-term care insurance that caps out-of-pocket costs and protects owner-occupied homes. Within the state, family caregivers are to get more advice and relief.

Care should stay affordable. The CDU wants to change care insurance at the federal level. People who need care should only pay up to a limit themselves. Their own home should be protected. Family members who give care should get more help.

Counseling, short-term and respite care, and flexible relief models for relatives are to be expanded. Care is to combine professional services, everyday help, day programs and assisted shared housing; nurses are to get more powers and responsibility. Federally, the CDU calls for a care insurance reform with capped out-of-pocket costs and simpler rules for the benefit supplements under Section 43c of Social Code Book XI, to reduce paperwork for care homes. Through the 4+1 initiative, schools are to cooperate voluntarily with care facilities so students get early insight into care professions.

The CDU aims to introduce a Medi-Bus that serves as a mobile primary care practice for areas with a severe shortage of doctors. It is to run on a fixed schedule.

Rural areas often lack doctors. So the CDU wants to bring in a Medi-Bus. This is a doctor's office inside a bus. The bus should visit villages on a fixed schedule.

A doctor and a medical assistant are to work on board, with the same equipment as a primary care practice. The bus is to make regular stops in those parts of Saxony-Anhalt where doctors are scarcest. If the trial succeeds, the bus could also be equipped for specialists such as eye doctors or dermatologists.

The CDU wants doctors' offices, hospitals and care homes to have strong digital infrastructure by 2030 and wants to expand telemedicine. University hospitals are to drive innovation, and production of medicines and medical products in the state is to grow.

The CDU wants better digital equipment in doctors' offices, hospitals and care homes by 2030. Doctors should treat people by video more often. University hospitals should do more research. More medicines should be made in the state.

Telemedicine, digital care applications and connected record systems are meant to make care faster and more transparent; paperwork is to shrink and data is to be used securely. University hospitals are to work more closely with regional providers. Digital medicine, remote monitoring and connected emergency structures are to make Saxony-Anhalt a model region. The CDU wants to secure and expand in-state production of medicines and medical products to become more independent.