SPD on health and care

The SPD wants to fund Berlin's hospitals adequately and carry out the hospital reform. A new children's hospital would be built together with the Charité. The Charité and Vivantes would be strengthened and cooperate more closely.

Many hospitals in Berlin have too little money. The SPD wants to give them more. A new children's hospital should be built with the Charité. Nurses in hospitals should have a lighter workload.

The state would provide its own funds so that federal money for the hospital reform can be drawn in full. Care close to home and emergency structures are to be preserved. The Charité would get a higher state subsidy and help with investments; the SPD wants to negotiate further support with the federal government. Collective agreements to relieve nursing staff should exist not only at state-owned hospitals but also at other operators.

The SPD wants more general and specialist practices and therapy slots, especially in outer districts, and shorter waits for appointments. To that end, planning of physician licenses would be reformed together with the Kassenärztliche Vereinigung (association of statutory health insurance physicians). Health centers and after-hours practices would be expanded.

Some parts of Berlin have too few doctors. The SPD wants to change that. People should get a specialist appointment faster. There should be more health centers close to home.

The right to a specialist appointment within 14 days should apply to every referral; the SPD calls on the federal government and the physicians' association to make changes. Integrated health centers combining medicine, nursing and counseling would be built, under municipal ownership if needed. Community health nurses, specialized nurses for primary care and prevention, would work in every district. Telemedicine, barrier-free practices and the public health service would be strengthened. There would be more after-hours practices at hospitals with longer opening times.

The SPD wants to develop a mental health master plan that reorganizes support and shortens waiting times. More therapy slots would be created and more specialists trained.

Many people with mental illness wait a long time for help. The SPD wants a big plan to fix this. There should be more therapy places. Berlin should train more specialists.

The party is pressing the federal government and the physicians' association to reform needs-based planning. Drop-in and counseling centers and psychotherapy for children and teens would be expanded. The public health service would offer training positions for psychotherapists in advanced training, and clinics should provide enough such places. Inpatient facilities and forensic psychiatric detention would get capacity that matches demand.

The SPD wants a new law making support services for older people a mandatory public task and wants to strengthen home care. Nursing homes would be inspected more closely. At the federal level the party calls for a cap on what people pay out of pocket for care.

More and more people in Berlin need care. The SPD wants to strengthen care at home. A new law should make help for older people a duty. Nursing homes should be checked more often.

Plans include neighborhood care or social service stations, more counseling and home visits, and more short-term and respite care. Berlin would get a dementia competence center and an emergency care hotline for family caregivers. Federally, the SPD supports collective wage coverage and fair pay in nursing care. Remote care, digital technology and barrier-free housing are meant to support independent living.

The SPD wants to expand health services for people with special needs and close gaps in care. This includes gender-sensitive and queer-sensitive medicine, better maternity care and care for homeless people and refugees.

The SPD wants good medical care for everyone. Doctors should pay more attention to differences between the sexes. Queer people should also get good care. Homeless people and refugees should get medical help.

Gender medicine would be promoted in research and training; endometriosis and menopause are to get more attention. For births, the SPD aims for one midwife per woman in labor and wants to expand midwife training and set up a master's program. Research and care for ME/CFS, long COVID and post-vaccination syndrome are to improve. Emergency medical and counseling services for homeless people and refugees would be secured. Berlin is to help end the HIV pandemic by 2030.

In drug policy, the SPD favors help over punishment. Counseling, drug checking, therapy, and supervised consumption rooms are to be expanded. At the same time, drugs are to be removed from public spaces, especially parks and playgrounds.

The SPD wants to help people with addiction instead of punishing them. There will be more counseling and therapy. There will be more rooms where people can use drugs safely. Parks and playgrounds should be free of drugs.

Drug consumption rooms would be easier to set up, open longer, and be housed in state-owned buildings. People with addiction would not be pushed from one place to another but would get help where they are. The SPD wants to respond early to new drugs with social and preventive measures. It also backs ending "accompanied drinking" for young people under 16.