Grüne on health and care

The Greens want health professionals working at every elementary school in the long term. They are to raise health promotion early on and close a gap in medical care. In the medium term, school cafeterias are to serve healthy, regional and affordable food.

Every elementary school should one day have a health worker. This person talks with children about healthy food and dental care. They also help children who need medical support. The Greens also want healthy and cheap food in school cafeterias.

The program points to a pilot project at selected elementary schools in Flensburg, which it says shows both success and need. So far, it says, only staff without medical training work in schools. Children with a high need for medical assistance are thus to receive proper care. Healthy eating and dental care are named as topics.

The Greens want everyone in the state to have access to health care, regardless of factors such as origin, disability, or language. This includes clearly regulated interpreter costs, accessible medical practices, and care for people without papers or health insurance.

Everyone should be able to see a doctor. This should also apply to people without papers. Interpreters should be paid for. Doctors' offices should be easy to reach for people with disabilities.

Responsibility for interpreter costs is to be clearly assigned, and interpreters are to receive training. Medical and therapy practices are to become accessible, and there is to be an accessible emergency call service. Counseling on how to regain health insurance is to be expanded. More municipalities should be able to cover the cost of contraception because, according to the platform, women currently bear most of these costs.

The Greens want to strengthen research and teaching on gender-specific medicine and introduce gender medicine as a subject at universities. A women's quota is meant to bring more women into leadership positions in health care. Diagnosing conditions in non-white patients is also to become a fixed part of training.

Illnesses often look different in women and men. The Greens want doctors to learn this better. Universities should teach it as its own subject. More women should get top jobs in health care.

In drug trials, men should no longer be treated as the standard. The public is to be informed about gender-specific differences in symptoms. Research is also to cover genders beyond the binary and women's health. Besides the quota, better working conditions are meant to help, and inter*, non-binary, and trans* people are to be taken into account. Diagnostics for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color are to be anchored in training and research because, according to the platform, teaching materials mostly show only white patients.

The Greens want to secure care across the whole state, including on the islands and Halligen. General medicine is to be strengthened, municipal health centers supported, telemedicine promoted, and more training and university places created. In nursing, better working conditions are meant to keep skilled staff in the profession.

Rural areas lack doctors and nurses. The Greens want more family doctors in the countryside. There should be more places for training and study. Nurses should get better working conditions.

The medical programs in Kiel and Lübeck are to be strengthened with federal funds, and a pact for health and nursing professions is to be launched in 2022 to raise training capacity. The state's Versorgungssicherungsfonds (care security fund) is to continue, and digitalization in health care is to be sped up. For nursing, the platform envisions career advancement, more training places, and modern working time models. Rescue services on land, in the air, and on water are to cooperate more closely, with enough rescue helicopters. Palliative and hospice care are to be strengthened.

The Greens want to permanently provide local public health offices with more staff and technology and make public health a strong pillar of the system. Prevention is to become more of a basic principle of health care.

The Greens want to strengthen public health offices. They should get more staff and better technology. More should also be done so that people do not get sick in the first place.

Public health offices are to work together with outpatient, inpatient, and research institutions. The Greens welcome the federal plan for nurses working across neighborhoods and municipalities (Community Health Nursing) and want to put the new profession into practice in the state. Prevention and preventive care are to get more weight in the training of medical and educational staff. The platform notes that, according to the World Health Organization, more than half of common diseases are avoidable.

The Greens want a new financing system that does not pay hospitals solely by case numbers. They reject further privatization in the health sector because they see health as a public service. Investment in hospitals is to continue.

Hospitals now get money based on how many cases they treat. The Greens want to change that. Hospitals should also get money for their role in society. Hospitals should not be sold to private companies anymore.

According to the platform, the current system creates economic pressure that burdens patients and staff. Health planning is to be geared more closely to demographic change and regional needs, with the involvement of nursing and health institutions and patient interests. The state and municipalities are to keep investing in renovating and modernizing hospitals to reduce the repair backlog. The federal government is to share in investment costs in the future.

The Greens want midwife care close to home in both urban and rural areas. To achieve this, working conditions and pay are to improve and more university places are to be created. Maternity wards are to get special consideration in hospital planning.

The Greens want enough midwives nearby, in cities and in the countryside. Midwives should have better working conditions and fair pay. There should be more places to study midwifery.

The federal government is to keep helping midwives with their professional liability insurance premiums. The number of university places in midwifery science is to rise to counter the shortage of skilled staff. The particular needs of the islands and Halligen are to be taken into account in planning.

The Greens want people with mental illness to get help faster. More therapists are to be licensed to bill public health insurers, and contact points are to be set up across the state. The platform calls waits of several months unacceptable.

Some people have a mental illness. They often wait many months for help. The Greens want more therapy places. They also want more advice centers close to home.

The plan calls for more insurance licenses for psychotherapists and psychiatrists and stronger related skills among general practitioners. Decentralized psychosocial contact points, where several professions work together, are to offer additional support. Children and young people are to get easier access to preventive counseling and stigma-free treatment. Clinical care is to be expanded, especially in child and adolescent psychiatry, which the platform says does not meet demand in the state. Care for all age groups is to be available close to home.

The Greens want more home-based care and small residential arrangements instead of large facilities. Municipalities are to be allowed to do binding planning of care needs in order to expand local services. This is meant to let people in need of care live self-determined lives and ease the burden on relatives.

The Greens want fewer large care homes. People should get care at home or in small shared homes. Towns and cities should be able to plan care themselves. The federal government should give start-up money for this.

The platform points to an aging society and calls for care services that fit local needs. Home-based care and residential arrangements are to be embedded in surroundings that help older people take part in community life. Municipalities are to be able to carry out binding planning of care needs. A federal program is to provide start-up funding for municipalities that take this step.

The Greens want to create an independent care office within the state government, headed by a care commissioner. This person is to represent the interests of people who need care and be a point of contact for everyone involved in care. A dialogue on professional self-governance in nursing is also planned.

The Greens want a new office in the state government. One person there works only on care. This person speaks up for people who need care. This person also has a say in new laws on care.

The care commissioner is to help plan, develop, implement and evaluate strategies, for example against the shortage of skilled staff in the care and health system. The office is to be consulted on all laws, regulations and other projects related to care. The platform commits to professional self-governance in nursing even without a nursing chamber in the state. An open-ended, representative dialogue with everyone working in care is planned on this.

The Greens want higher wages in nursing and equal pay between elder care and hospital nursing. In the long run they aim for a 35-hour week for care workers at full pay. Better conditions are meant to make the profession more attractive and secure patient care.

Care workers should earn more money. Pay in elder care should match pay in hospitals. Later, care workers should work only 35 hours a week. Their pay should stay the same.

The 35-hour week is to come with full pay and full staffing compensation. In long-term care, expanded inspection guidelines for care home regulators are meant to ensure staffing ratios and employers' duty of care are checked more effectively; the party wants to promote works councils in care facilities. Entry into the profession is to be possible both through more academic training and through low-threshold qualifications. For professions such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy, a needs analysis is planned for 2022, after which training and university places will be adjusted. Digital infrastructure and assistance systems are to reduce paperwork, and the party also wants to push for structural improvements at the federal level.

The Greens want to create a state-level prevention council in 2022 to advise the health ministry. It is to focus mainly on chronic diseases. In addition, counseling services such as AIDS and drug counseling centers are to be strengthened.

The Greens want a new council for preventing illness. It advises the health ministry. It deals with illnesses that last a long time. Advice centers should get more support, also in rural areas.

The platform names diabetes, obesity, cancer, high blood pressure and multi-resistant germs as topics, which it sees as a major cause of rising patient numbers. Mobile services are to bring information and counseling to rural areas as well. Together with the AIDS service organizations, a pilot project on self-tests for sexually transmitted infections is planned as part of a PrEP strategy. Health insurers are to cover the cost of test kits and staff in the first year.

The Greens want to prevent illnesses caused by poor diet and lack of exercise. They plan a permanent counseling structure for families, more health education in daycare centers and schools, and more time for sports. A funding program for healthy meals is to be set up together with municipalities.

Bad food and too little exercise make people sick. The Greens want to advise families on this. Schools should offer more sports. Children should learn more about healthy food in daycare and school.

In preventive health care, the One Health approach, which looks at human, animal and environmental health together, is to get more weight. Medical and teaching staff are to learn more about the role of nutrition during their training. The platform backs organic, regional and healthy meals as well as regular cooking. In disadvantaged neighborhoods, easy-access sports programs and open playgrounds and soccer pitches are to be created. Health management in public administrations is also to be strengthened.

In drug policy, the Greens rely on education, self-determined use and addiction prevention instead of criminalizing people with addictions. They support legalizing cannabis for adults with sales in licensed specialty shops. Drug checking in clubs is to become possible in Schleswig-Holstein as well.

The Greens want to allow cannabis for adults. Special shops should sell it. In clubs, people should be able to have their drugs tested. People with an addiction should get help, not punishment.

The platform also wants more education about alcohol, tobacco and dependence on medication. The legally secure testing of drugs in clubs and discos announced by the federal government is to be implemented in the state to reduce risks when using chemical substances. Free counseling services are to be supported. At the municipal level, the party favors supervised drug consumption rooms and more street outreach work.

The Greens want to improve conditions in the Maßregelvollzug, the detention of mentally ill or addicted offenders in secure clinics. Single rooms are to become the norm, and therapeutic and nursing care is to improve. In the platform's view, good treatment is the best protection against reoffending.

Some offenders are mentally ill. They are placed in a special clinic. The Greens want single rooms for everyone there. There should be more therapy and care. This is meant to prevent new crimes.

The buildings at the Neustadt and Schleswig sites are to be improved so that shared rooms during long stays come to an end. Staffing is not to be cut. More research is to be made possible, and there is to be closer evaluation of how effectively this form of detention protects society. Digital formats are to make up for visits from relatives who live far away. Training in everyday skills is also to cover use of the internet and modern communication tools.

The Greens want a multi-year pilot project that pays for treating people without residence papers from a fund, without them having to reveal their identity. For refugees under psychological strain, a statewide plan is to improve psychosocial care.

People without papers can hardly see a doctor. The Greens want a project lasting several years. A fund then pays for treatment in urgent cases. People do not have to give their name. Refugees with mental health problems should get more help.

The pilot follows the Hamburg model and covers acute cases in doctors' offices and hospitals as well as prenatal care. The Medibüros (volunteer medical referral offices) in Kiel, Lübeck and Neumünster are to keep receiving support, and the party also seeks a residence-law solution for undocumented people. In cases of psychological trauma, the duty to submit a specialist's report is to be supplemented or replaced by a right to obtain one. A statewide plan is to expand counseling and therapy as needed and create preventive services, for example in schools.