Grüne on health and care

The Greens call for a pandemic council for Bremen made up mainly of scientific experts and representatives of the health care system. It is to give policymakers scientific advice on long-term strategies. The party considers further protective measures against the COVID-19 pandemic necessary.

The Greens want a pandemic council for Bremen. A pandemic is a disease that spreads around the world. Experts from research and medicine sit on the council. They advise the politicians.

The council is to draw on different disciplines so that social, educational and other non-medical aspects are taken into account. The rules of the Infektionsschutzgesetz (Infection Protection Act) are to be reviewed for whether they are appropriate for containing communicable diseases. The public health service is to gain more expertise in epidemiology. The party wants Bremen to be better prepared for future pandemics and does not yet see the COVID-19 threat as over.

The Greens want people to get reliable medical care close to where they live. To that end, working conditions and pay in health care are to improve, and incentives are to draw professionals to Bremen and Bremerhaven. Nursing care, hospice places and psychotherapy are also to be expanded.

The Greens want good doctors and practices in every neighborhood. People who work in health care should get better conditions. That way, more professionals should come to Bremen. There should also be more places for psychotherapy and care.

Midwives, doctors' offices, pediatricians and psychotherapists are to be easier to reach in both cities. The platform mentions more family-friendly working time models, more neighborhood midwife centers and a free bachelor's program for midwives with older qualifications. Outpatient psychotherapy places are to increase, including for children and teenagers. People who need care should be able to live independently in familiar surroundings for as long as possible; more hospice and palliative places and more home care are planned for this. In nursing homes, the party advocates fair wages and wants to gradually remove financial incentives it sees as misguided. In addition, health centers are to be set up and prevention strengthened.

The Greens want to give everyone access to menstrual products, which they classify as a necessary medical good. As a start, the products are to be available in the restrooms of all public buildings. The party justifies this with the financial burden on many of those affected.

Pads and tampons cost money. For some people that is too expensive. The Greens want to put them out in public buildings. These are schools and government offices, for example.

The platform names schools, universities and government offices as examples of the buildings. Measures are to keep the products from being misused. In a further step, the party wants to examine how people with little money can get the products for free. The results of this review are to be put into practice.

The Greens see a shortage of care when it comes to abortions. To fix it, medical staff are to be able to get the necessary training. This is also to happen through pilot projects.

The Greens say there are too few services for abortions. They want more training for medical staff. There should also be trial projects for this.

The platform lists this among the most important health policy projects. The party speaks of a care emergency that it wants to end. The starting point is training medical staff, including through pilot projects.

The Greens want to permanently give the public health departments more staff and better technology. Digitalization is meant to improve data sharing, ease the load on employees and make processes more efficient. The departments are also to become central bodies for pandemic preparedness and civil protection.

The Greens want to strengthen the public health departments. They should get more staff and better technology. The departments should prepare for new pandemics. A help service for mental health crises should be there day and night again.

The departments are to become more attractive employers for medical and nursing professionals and hold regular health and care conferences. Positions for health workers in neighborhoods and schools are to be kept and expanded. Pandemic preparedness includes stocks of protective equipment, working reporting systems and drills, along with coordination in disasters and precautions against the health effects of climate change. The Sozialpsychiatrischer Dienst (social psychiatric service) is to get more staff under the health department and be reachable around the clock again. Across health care, the party wants to promote telemedicine, robotics, the electronic patient record and a data infrastructure that complies with data protection rules.

The Greens want the hospital group Gesundheit Nord to stay in municipal ownership while becoming financially sustainable. Medical departments are to be concentrated and emergency rooms reorganized. At the federal level, hospital funding should no longer depend solely on case numbers.

The Greens want the Gesundheit Nord hospitals to stay owned by the city of Bremen. The hospitals should manage their money better. Not every hospital should offer everything. Emergency rooms should be only for real emergencies.

The platform says permanent subsidies for day-to-day hospital operations are not justifiable given the state's finances. Departments are therefore to be distributed and concentrated sensibly through active state hospital planning that covers municipal, nonprofit and private hospitals alike. The Greens want to talk with Lower Saxony about sharing the cost of services used by the surrounding region. To relieve overcrowded emergency rooms, integrated emergency centers are to be set up where the hospital and the on-call doctors' service share one front desk. Federally, the Greens push for a new way of funding hospital services.

The Greens want to set up interdisciplinary centers for sexual, reproductive and gender-specific health and keep supporting existing services. The centers are also meant to be a point of contact for trans, inter and non-binary people.

The Greens want new health centers in Bremen. They deal with birth control, pregnancy and infections passed on through sex. Trans, inter and non-binary people also get help there. Women without health insurance should get their own consultation hours.

The centers are to cover everything from choosing a contraceptive method to testing for sexually transmitted infections. Plans include gynecological consultation hours for women without health insurance and easy-to-access, multilingual counseling and education. For trans, inter and non-binary people, the centers are to help with medical transition and make up for the shortage of practitioners in Bremen. The platform sees a particular need in gynecology and endocrinology for sensitive treatment of marginalized groups.

The Greens want people in a mental health crisis to get help faster. The state of Bremen is to have enough psychotherapists, more points of contact and better-connected support services. Prevention and suicide prevention are to receive more resources.

People in a mental crisis often wait months for help. The Greens want to change that. There should be more therapy places and more places to turn to. Children and teenagers should also get help more easily.

The platform calls waiting months for psychotherapeutic or psychiatric help unacceptable. Existing support services are to cooperate better across sectors. In further psychiatric reform, the people affected are to be involved and peer approaches such as the recovery support project Ex-In strengthened. Inclusive housing projects are meant to help avoid hospital stays where possible. For children and young people, access to preventive counseling and stigma-free treatment is to become easier.

The Greens want to tackle the shortage of nursing staff through relief at work, adequate pay and family-friendly scheduling. Training places are to be expanded, academic nursing education promoted and foreign qualifications recognized quickly. The state is to get a commissioner for nursing care.

There are not enough nurses and caregivers. The Greens want to make these jobs better. Staff should have less stress and better pay. There should be more training places. Qualifications from abroad should be recognized faster.

The platform names heavy workloads, unattractive pay and few chances for advancement as causes of the shortage. Staffing is to follow evidence-based staffing tools so that workers gain more control over their time. The number of training places for skilled and assistant staff is to rise, and enough continuing education is to be offered in Bremen. Nurses from abroad are to get a transparent, fast recognition process and good further training. A nursing commissioner is to represent caregivers' interests in decision-making bodies.

The Greens want to stop financial investors from buying up care facilities and, in the long run, bring more nursing homes back into municipal ownership. In the short term, the state is to cover investment costs and residents' out-of-pocket contributions are to be capped.

Some companies buy nursing homes to make a lot of money. The Greens want to stop that. More homes should belong to the cities again. The state should pay part of the costs. Residents should not have to pay more and more themselves.

The platform describes private equity firms buying homes, merging them and reselling them at a profit, with their interest lying in the real estate. In the Greens' view, quality of care suffers as a result, leading to serious shortcomings. Such takeovers are to be prevented. Having the state cover investment costs and capping residents' own contributions is meant to avoid further cost increases for people in care and their families.

The Greens want to expand outpatient care in underserved districts and stabilize access to general practitioners and specialists. Health centers and health kiosks are to bring medicine, prevention and nursing care together in one place. Family caregivers are to get more relief.

Some districts have too few doctors and care services. The Greens want more services there. There should be health centers with many services under one roof. People who care for relatives should get free courses and more help.

People who need care should be able to live at home as long as possible. Free professional training is planned for relatives and friends who look after older people. To give them relief, the state of Bremen is to have more short-term care places along with day and night care. In a pilot project, the Greens want to test linking neighborhood centers with outpatient treatment centers.

The Greens want to quickly expand hospice and palliative care in the state of Bremen because, in their view, it falls short given the growing number of older people. The expected federal rules on assisted dying are to be implemented and funded in Bremen.

Bremen has too few places for dying people. The Greens want more hospice places and more help against pain. Everyone should decide about the end of their own life. Bremen should carry out the new federal law on assisted dying.

According to the platform, dying people are often unable to get hospice or palliative care even though capacity has already grown. Inpatient and outpatient palliative services and pain relief are to be open to everyone. Suicide prevention is to be available for every age group. The Greens want to implement the upcoming Bundestag decision on assisted dying responsibly and provide the necessary funding.

In drug policy, the Greens rely on education, youth protection, decriminalization and addiction prevention. They want to set up a drug-checking service and quickly implement federal cannabis legalization in Bremen. Until then, prosecutors are to stop pursuing the offenses concerned.

The Greens want more education about drugs and addiction. People should be able to have drugs tested for poison. This is called drug checking. If the federal government allows cannabis, Bremen should act fast. Even before that, prosecutors should stop pursuing such cases.

Education and prevention are to be expanded and extended to non-substance addictions such as gambling, shopping and media addiction. Projects that inform people in nightlife settings about substances and harm reduction are to be supported. With drug checking, users can have additives and dosage tested; it is to be combined with counseling and help to quit. Once the federal government decides on cannabis legalization, the Greens want to issue enough licenses quickly. Youth work is also to be strengthened.

The Greens want to buy new ambulance vehicles and expand the HanseSani service and telemedicine in emergency care. The numbers 116 117 and 112 are to be linked more closely so that callers are guided to the right help. A first-responder app is to alert nearby helpers in cases of cardiac arrest.

The Greens want to buy new ambulances. The HanseSani service should stay for good. It is meant to avoid unneeded trips to the hospital. The emergency numbers should work together better. An app should call first-aiders when someone's heart stops.

According to the program, the HanseSani, which is meant to avoid unnecessary hospital transports, has proven itself and is to be used permanently and more widely. Gradually linking the medical on-call service 116 117 with the emergency number 112 and other dispatch centers is meant to provide a permanent guidance function and relieve the health system. The first-responder app is to notify registered helpers in the immediate vicinity so they can give aid until the ambulance arrives.

The Greens want people with disabilities to have equal access to health care. To that end, anyone who needs a personal assistant during a hospital stay should get one.

Some people need a support person in the hospital. This person helps them during treatment. The Greens want everyone who needs this help to get it. This should also apply to people who need long-term care.

The platform sets equal access to health care for people with disabilities as a goal. Assistance during a hospital stay should be available to anyone who needs it for treatment to succeed. Through an initiative in the Bundesrat (the chamber of the states), the Greens want this support extended to people who need care or intensive care.

The Greens want to substantially expand help for people addicted to drugs and replace the current temporary drug consumption room with a permanent, larger facility. More street workers and decentralized services are to be added. According to the platform, this should also reduce conflicts around the main station.

The Greens want more help for people addicted to drugs. There should be a permanent room where they can use drugs more safely. They also get advice and a doctor there. More social workers should help on the street.

The facility is to have longer hours, more space, and more staff, and combine a consumption room, substitution treatment rooms, meals, therapy, and medical care. The platform proposes the site on Friedrich-Rauers-Straße near the station. Also planned are a separate safe space for women and queer people, more street workers who speak clients' native languages, and a more appealing drop-in center with longer hours. The “ElternPlus” project for addicted pregnant women and parents of small children is to do more street work. Decentralized services are to include vending machines for drug-use supplies.

The Greens want midwives with traditional vocational training to be able to earn a bachelor's degree easily. Three quarters of the degree program are to be credited on the basis of that training. This is meant to prevent disadvantages in pay and status compared with university-trained midwives.

Midwives now learn their job at a university. Before, there was job training instead. The Greens want that training to count for a lot in the degree. Then midwives can finish the degree while working. They should not earn less than others.

The Greens want to push for the 75 percent credit at the federal level. According to the platform, the remaining quarter could be studied alongside a job. The platform names different pay-scale classifications for trained and university-educated midwives as a risk. Students with children in the international midwifery program at Hochschule Bremen are to be able to get an exemption from the mandatory semester abroad.

The Greens want to collect organic waste separately throughout Bremen and Bremerhaven so it can be recycled better and used for energy. To that end, the organic waste bin would become mandatory.

The Greens want to collect food and garden waste separately everywhere. The organic waste bin should become mandatory. This waste can be turned into energy. There should also be more containers for used glass.

The organic waste bin would become mandatory in both cities. A waste-sorting campaign would target large housing complexes where sorting has worked less well so far. The network of glass recycling containers would also be made denser.