SPD on health and care

The SPD wants to reorganize hospital care in light of the hospital reform: specialized centers for major treatments, emergency care reachable everywhere, and new Regiokliniken (regional clinics) for care close to home. The goal is good care in both cities and rural areas.

The SPD wants to reorganize hospitals. Serious illnesses should be treated in special centers. Emergency help should be available everywhere. New regional clinics should help close to home, also at night and on weekends.

Expertise for treatments such as hip replacements or cancer care would be concentrated at central sites; the Mainz University Medical Center remains the leading institution. Medical training would be spread across the state through sites in Koblenz, Trier and Kaiserslautern. Emergency rooms and ambulance services are to be reachable around the clock, supplemented by telemedicine such as Telestroke. At the federal level the SPD backs a single-counter model to steer emergency patients better. The Regioklinik would combine outpatient and inpatient services, nursing care and counseling in one place.

The SPD wants to expand outpatient care and aims for an appointment guarantee for everyone, whether publicly or privately insured. Primary care, especially in rural areas, is to be secured with new models and help for doctors setting up practice.

The SPD wants more care from doctors in local offices. Everyone should be sure to get an appointment. The type of insurance should not matter. More doctors should work in rural areas.

Digital and phone-based initial assessments are meant to direct patients to the right practice faster. Settlement guides would support general practitioners and specialists, and municipalities would find it easier to found their own medical care centers. In rural areas the SPD funds care models with multi-professional teams and digital tools, such as the HÄPPI RLP project in family practices. Quotas for rural doctors and rural pediatricians are meant to secure care in the long term. For the chronically ill, the approach of the rheumatism action plan would be extended to pain medicine and diabetology.

The SPD wants to fund more hospices and palliative services. According to the platform, the seriously ill and the dying should be well cared for and accompanied, regardless of origin, income or place of residence.

The SPD wants more hospices. A hospice is a place for people who are dying. They get good care and company there. This should be possible for everyone, no matter how much money they have.

Funding would go to expanding hospices, palliative services and outpatient end-of-life support. Volunteers in the hospice movement would receive support. Grief support for children would also be funded.

The SPD wants to reform how pharmacies are paid in order to keep pharmacies close to where people live. The state is also meant to ensure that important medicines remain available despite supply shortages.

The SPD wants to keep pharmacies nearby. For this, pharmacies should be paid in a different way. Important medicines should always be available. The state should help with that.

The SPD is pushing for a new payment system for pharmacies. Through the Pharmadialog (pharma dialogue), the state would stay in close contact with manufacturers. Stockpiling of especially critical medicines would be subsidized. During shortages, special permits would allow substitute products to be imported.

The SPD wants to channel money from the federal special fund into hospital infrastructure. New buildings and modernizations are to be climate-friendly and energy-efficient.

The SPD wants to put a lot of money into hospitals. The money comes from the federal government. Buildings should be new or improved. They should use little energy and protect against heat.

The platform notes that investment funds for hospitals have already been doubled. The federal money is meant to strengthen medical and nursing care. Heat protection, sustainable energy supply and resource-saving construction would be mandatory in every project.

The SPD wants to attract more skilled workers from abroad for health and nursing professions. Their qualifications are to be recognized more simply and quickly so they can work in their field soon and stay in the state.

The SPD wants to bring skilled workers from other countries. They should work in nursing and medicine. Their degrees should be accepted faster. They get help with learning German and with daily life.

The “Fallmanager” (case manager) project for academic health professionals from non-EU countries would be made permanent, as would the statewide advice center for nurses from abroad. Recognition procedures would be digitalized; connected agencies and possibly artificial intelligence are meant to speed them up. Providers and facilities would get support with integration, for example with housing searches, childcare and dealing with authorities.

The SPD wants to attract more young people and career changers to nursing and health professions and modernize training. Regional care pools are meant to step in during staff shortages and relieve permanent staff.

There are too few care workers. The SPD wants to win more people for these jobs. Training should become more modern. Care pools are teams that step in when staff are missing.

The skilled-worker strategy for nursing and health professions would continue, with hands-on training and flexible career paths. The campaign “Wer pflegt bewegt” would be extended to all health professions. New roles such as physician assistants, advanced practice nurses and family doctors are meant to relieve physicians. The SPD is counting on multi-professional teams in practices and hospitals.

The SPD wants to expand health promotion in everyday life so that illnesses are avoided where possible. This includes municipal prevention networks, more vaccination campaigns and better-connected early detection programs.

The SPD wants people to stay healthy. There should be more programs in daycare, schools and workplaces. Getting vaccinated should be easy and close to home. Illnesses should be found early.

Exercise, nutrition, mental health and addiction prevention are to be anchored in daycare centers, schools, workplaces and clubs. Municipal networks would connect doctors, nurses, schools, sports clubs and health insurers. Vaccinations should be easy to access, including at family practices and pharmacies; the SPD intends to counter disinformation. Early detection for conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, rheumatism, mental strain and cancer would be promoted more. The state center for health promotion would become a prevention network.

The SPD supports an opt-out system: anyone who does not explicitly object counts as a potential organ donor. According to the platform, this would strengthen solidarity without restricting self-determination.

Many people are waiting for an organ. The SPD wants a new rule. Everyone is then an organ donor unless they say no. There should be a lot of information about it.

Today in Germany donation is only possible with consent; the SPD wants to reverse that rule. Alongside it, the party plans extensive education in schools, workplaces, public offices and medical facilities. People should be able to make a well-informed decision.

The SPD wants to advance digital technology across the health care system and connect facilities better. According to the platform, digital services should supplement care, not replace it.

The SPD wants more digital technology in medicine and care. Hospitals, care homes and health insurers should share data better. Older people get help with the electronic patient record. Technology should not replace doctors.

A central platform for health and care is planned. Artificial intelligence is meant to support diagnoses, telemedicine to improve access in rural areas, and assistance systems to relieve nurses. The tele-emergency-physician system would be developed further. Staff are to gain digital skills, facilities would receive advice, and red tape is to be cut. Volunteer digital ambassadors would act as ePA coaches helping older people with the electronic patient record.

The SPD wants to further expand maternity care and make it easier for midwives to start their careers. Those who become self-employed in Rhineland-Palatinate for the first time after their studies would receive 1,000 euros a year for five years.

The SPD wants to help parents-to-be. There should be more offices that help find a midwife. New self-employed midwives get 1,000 euros a year. They get the money for five years.

Additional Hebammenzentralen (midwife coordination centers) would help parents find a midwife and relieve midwives. The bonus would also go to midwives who return after a break of more than two years taken to have children of their own. The platform sees midwife-led delivery rooms as an important building block. Federal funds for obstetrics would mainly benefit rural areas.

The SPD wants to give women's health more weight because, according to the platform, women are underrepresented in research, diagnostics, and treatment. Women's medicine and gender-sensitive research are to be firmly anchored in training and practice.

The SPD wants to do more for women's health. Research should pay more attention to women. Doctors should learn more about it. Illnesses like breast cancer and endometriosis should get better care.

For breast cancer, prevention, public information, and early detection are to be improved, and high-quality treatment close to home is to be supported. For endometriosis, the SPD wants better care, a place for the condition in medical training, and more research into causes, diagnosis, and therapy. For lipedema, earlier diagnosis, use of evidence-based guidelines, and more support services are meant to help. The party also wants to strengthen women's right to self-determination over their own bodies.

The SPD wants to give mental health a bigger place in health care because, according to the platform, crises weigh especially on children and young people. It plans easy-to-access therapy and support, more prevention, and closer cooperation between schools, youth services, and the health system.

The SPD wants to do more for mental health. Many people suffer because of crises, especially children and teens. There should be more help that is easy to get. Schools should offer more counseling by psychologists.

The party points to the Aktionsplan Seelische Gesundheit (mental health action plan) and the project "Gesundheit für alle," which combine prevention, reducing stigma, and better access to psychotherapy. At the federal level it wants to push for psychotherapy planning based on actual need. The state center for health promotion is to get a mental health focus. Also planned are more school psychology counseling, prevention projects, neighborhood-level help, digital services as a supplement, and an expanded psychNAVi portal.

The SPD wants to plan long-term care ahead of time and permanently fund the state's 135 Pflegestützpunkte (local care advice centers). Data-based planning is meant to reveal regional shortages early so that local services can be adjusted.

The SPD wants to plan care better. Data should show where care services are missing. The 135 care advice centers should get secure funding. These centers give advice about care.

Municipalities are to get advice, networking, and a digital platform for care structure planning. The goal is a network linking home, day, and residential care with counseling, volunteering, and neighborhood help. The advice centers are to open up to people with limited German through multilingual information, culturally sensitive counseling, and interpreters. At the federal level the party wants to push for rules on care for young people who need it.

The SPD wants to set up local care centers statewide that combine home care and residential care close to where people live. Family caregivers are to get relief, and care workers are to have more time for people and less paperwork.

The SPD wants care centers close to home all over the state. They offer home care and nursing home care in one place. Family members who give care should get help. Care workers should have less paperwork.

According to the platform, eight in ten people needing care in the state are looked after at home. Support services close to home that make living in one's own home possible are to be funded. Children and teens who carry heavy care duties in their families are to get targeted help. Models that bill home care by time are to be extended to more parts of the state, and documentation duties reduced where possible.

The SPD wants to fund housing and care projects that combine independence, community, and support in old age. Money from the Sondervermögen (special public fund) is also to go to neighborhood projects for this purpose.

The SPD wants to support new ways of living in old age. People live together there and get care. Money from a special public fund should also pay for this.

Plans include barrier-free, multi-generational services, from shared care apartments to village-center projects with day care. Neighborhood meeting places are to become places of encounter, and full-time neighborhood managers are to coordinate services. The SPD also wants to strengthen care that responds to differences between people, with quality seals for facilities and training for care workers. The needs of people with disabilities who require care are to be taken into account.

The SPD wants to survey the members of the Pflegekammer (the state's professional chamber for nurses and care workers) in 2026. The aim is to confirm that the chamber will continue to represent the profession's interests.

The care chamber speaks for care workers in the state. The SPD wants to ask its members in 2026. This should make clear that the chamber should stay.

The occasion is the chamber's tenth anniversary in 2026. The party wants care workers in the state to have a strong and clearly heard voice. In its view, a body representing their interests needs broad backing from its members.

The SPD wants to keep strengthening the public health service and continue its digitalization so the state is prepared for future crises. The post-COVID outpatient clinics are to stay in place.

The SPD wants to make the public health offices stronger. They should work more digitally. This way the state is ready for crises. Special clinics for people with post-COVID should stay.

The platform refers to lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and to the state supply depot in Andernach. It says the health service has already gained staff and is to be built up further. The post-COVID clinics are to keep treating complex cases. The party wants to step up research on the effects for children and young people.

The SPD wants to expand obstetric care and secure medical care for families, women, and children, especially in rural areas. This includes funding for pediatricians and new practice models such as "Family Doctors."

The SPD wants more maternity care in the state. Rural areas should have enough children's doctors. The state gives money for this. New practices should have doctors for the whole family in one place.

The state funds pediatric medicine with grants for setting up a practice, hiring, and specialist training in regions with particular need. A rural pediatrician quota is meant to encourage medical students to settle in rural areas later. "Family Doctors" bring general, pediatric, and gynecological care together in one practice. The goal is care close to home for families.

The SPD wants to secure and further develop the clearing offices for people without health insurance on a lasting basis. It sees them as contributing to better medical care and to fighting poverty.

Some people have no health insurance. Special advice offices help them get insured again. The SPD wants to support these offices for the long term. It will check whether more offices can be opened.

The clearing offices currently operate at four sites in the state. They advise people without coverage and guide them back into regular health insurance. The SPD wants to develop their services further. Whether more sites can be added is to be examined so that more people can be reached.

The SPD wants to link the emergency numbers 112 and 116117 more closely and better connect ambulance services with emergency rooms and the on-call physician service. Remote emergency physicians, digitalization, additional ambulance stations and air rescue are to be expanded.

The SPD wants to improve help in emergencies. The emergency numbers 112 and 116117 should work together more closely. There should be more ambulance stations. Doctors should support paramedics by video more often. More people should learn first aid.

Patients are to be directed to the care that fits their case. More training places and better career paths are planned for paramedics. Dispatch centers and rescue vehicles are to get uniform software for handling emergency calls, digital documentation and advance notification of hospitals. Air rescue is to get longer operating hours and eventually a round-the-clock helicopter. Research partnerships are to be made permanent, and first aiders, first responder teams and first aid apps are to be supported.

Civil servants are to be able to stay in statutory health insurance, with the state paying the employer's share. The SPD says this strengthens statutory health insurance and solidarity and eases the burden on those affected.

Civil servants should be able to stay in public health insurance. The state then pays part of the premium. An employer does the same for regular employees. The SPD says this makes public health insurance stronger.

The plan is referred to as the Hamburg model. Under the Hamburg model, civil servants with statutory insurance receive a contribution from their public employer toward their premium instead of the usual Beihilfe (state subsidy for medical costs). The state of Rhineland-Palatinate is to cover the employer's share. The SPD justifies this with greater solidarity and relief for the civil servants concerned.