What do the parties in North Rhine-Westphalia say on health and care?

The AfD rejects restrictions on fundamental rights, school closures, and a general vaccine mandate in Covid policy. Instead it calls for a protection strategy that differentiates by risk.

The AfD is against a vaccine mandate for everyone. It also does not want schools closed because of Covid. Basic rights should not be limited. Protection should depend on how high a person's risk is.

The AfD rejects COVID vaccination of children and adolescents and wants lockdowns allowed only under narrow conditions. Educators at daycare centers and elementary schools should get extra training to recognize the psychological effects of the measures on children.

The AfD is against COVID shots for children and teenagers. Lockdowns should only happen when there is great danger. The AfD says the COVID rules harmed many children. Teachers and daycare staff should learn how to deal with that.

The AfD wants to expand preventive health services and have nutrition and exercise discussed as early as elementary school. Everyone should have good medical care nearby, regardless of income and also in rural areas.

The AfD wants more preventive health services. Prevention means staying healthy before you get sick. Children should learn about food and exercise in elementary school. Everyone should have a doctor nearby, also in the countryside.

The AfD wants to fund hospitals through individual budgets rather than relying solely on per-case flat rates. Hospitals should no longer close for economic reasons, and private operators should make up no more than 60 percent of the hospital sector.

The AfD wants to pay hospitals in a different way. Each hospital should get its own budget. No hospital should close because of money. Private companies should run at most 60 percent of hospitals.

The AfD wants to improve care for older people with a package of measures, including more short-term care places, new forms of housing and stronger palliative care. No one should face money worries or a long search for a care place in old age.

The AfD wants to do more for old people. There should be more places for short-term care. Old people should be able to live on their own for a long time. Workers in elder care should get better pay.

The AfD wants to strengthen nursing staff through collectively agreed wages across the board, fixed minimum staffing levels and better career prospects. It rejects compulsory membership in the Pflegekammer (nursing chamber), which it sees as nothing but extra bureaucracy.

The AfD wants better conditions for nurses. They should get union-level pay everywhere. There should be fixed rules for enough staff. Nobody should be forced to join the nursing chamber.

The AfD wants to strengthen domestic production of medicines and medical devices to reduce dependence on global supply chains. It also wants the state to fund antibiotic research.

The AfD wants more medicines to be made in Germany. That way the country depends less on supplies from abroad. The state should pay for research on antibiotics. Antibiotics are drugs that fight bacteria.

The AfD rejects any form of mandatory vaccination and wants a state parliament committee of inquiry to review COVID-19 policy. Health policy powers are to be brought back from the EU.

The AfD does not want mandatory vaccination. Nobody should be forced to get a vaccine. The state parliament should look closely at COVID-19 policy. The EU should decide less on health policy.

The CDU wants to make the routine pediatric checkups (U-Untersuchungen) mandatory. Regular doctor visits are meant to help detect early signs of violence. The CDU also wants to expand therapy services designed to keep people from becoming offenders.

Children go to regular checkups at the doctor. The CDU wants all children to have to take part. Doctors should then notice early if a child suffers violence. There should also be more therapy for possible offenders.

The CDU wants to continue the Landarztquote (rural doctor quota) and award more medical school places through it. Those who receive such a place then work as general practitioners in a region short of doctors. People in rural areas are to have care close to home just as city residents do.

There are too few doctors in rural areas. So the CDU wants to expand the rural doctor quota. This means some places in medical school are reserved. People who get such a place later work as family doctors in the countryside.

The CDU wants to continue reforming hospital planning. Basic and emergency care, obstetrics, and pediatric medicine are to be available close to home everywhere, while complicated procedures are to be handled by specialized hospitals. In the party's view, the market alone must not decide on locations and services.

The CDU wants to keep changing how hospitals are planned. Everywhere, a hospital for emergencies and births should be nearby. Experts in special clinics should do difficult operations. Midwives should get better working conditions.

The CDU wants to give hospitals an additional 2.5 billion euros over five years for modernization. It counts hospitals as part of the state's core infrastructure. At the federal level, it wants to reform the system of flat-rate payments per case.

The CDU wants to give hospitals more money. Over five years, it should be 2.5 billion euros extra. This should improve buildings and technology. The way hospitals are paid per case should also change. Today they get a fixed amount for each treatment.

The CDU wants to extend the Virtual Hospital to more medical conditions and to every hospital in the state. The tele-emergency doctor system is also to be rolled out statewide. The aim is to make the expertise of university hospitals available to hospitals outside the big cities.

The CDU wants more medicine over the internet. Doctors at big hospitals should advise small hospitals by video. This is called the Virtual Hospital. All hospitals in the state should take part. Emergency doctors should also be able to help by video everywhere.

The CDU wants to expand portal practices at hospitals and introduce a single reception desk or a uniform initial assessment procedure. Patients are meant to reach the right place of treatment faster. This is intended to ease the load on emergency rooms and hospital outpatient departments.

Many people go straight to the emergency room. The CDU wants to change that. Staff at the front desk should check where a patient belongs. Then the patient gets to the right doctor quickly. Emergency rooms should be less crowded.

The CDU wants to increase funding for medical research and modernize the university hospitals. In the Ostwestfalen-Lippe region, a university hospital is to be created with an investment of one billion euros. Cancer care based on the latest research is to be available close to home.

The CDU wants to spend more on medical research. The big university hospitals should get modern equipment. A new university hospital is planned for the Ostwestfalen-Lippe region. The CDU plans one billion euros for it. Cancer patients should find good treatment near their home.

The CDU wants to build up the public health service and revise the state law that governs it. It points to the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason. Statewide crisis management structures are planned.

Local health offices are part of the public health service. The CDU wants to make this service stronger. The law for it should be rewritten. The state should be better prepared for a crisis. The CDU says the COVID-19 period showed this.

The CDU wants to do more for relatives who provide care at home. It seeks a care leave modeled on parental leave and wants to launch a federal initiative for a care allowance that replaces lost wages. People in need of care should be able to live as independently as possible.

Many people care for family members at home. The CDU wants to help them. They should get care leave, similar to parental leave. During that time they should get money to replace their pay. The CDU wants to push for this at the federal level.

The CDU wants to recruit more nursing staff, including from abroad. New nurses are to receive a one-time welcome bonus of up to 3,000 euros. Over time, this is meant to bring in up to 10,000 additional nurses a year.

There are not enough nurses. The CDU wants to bring in more, also from other countries. New nurses should get up to 3,000 euros once. This should bring up to 10,000 new nurses each year. They should stay in the state for good.

The CDU wants to improve training and working conditions in nursing. University and training places are to grow, and all nursing staff are to be paid under collective agreements. The platform sees this as the key to having enough qualified staff.

The CDU wants more young people to work in nursing. There should be more places for training and study. All nurses should get pay set by a collective agreement. That is a fixed contract on wages. A voluntary year in nursing should also be more rewarding.

The CDU supports the establishment of the nursing chamber in North Rhine-Westphalia as a professional body. It also favors a nursing chamber at the federal level. Other health professions are to get a stronger voice in state bodies.

A nursing chamber speaks for nurses. One is being set up in North Rhine-Westphalia. The CDU supports this. It also wants a nursing chamber for all of Germany. Other health professions should get more say too.

The CDU commits to the career civil service with its pensions, salary and Beihilfe (state health cost aid for civil servants). It rejects a flat-rate Beihilfe and a compulsory single insurance; the coexistence of statutory and private health insurance is to remain.

Civil servants get state help with medical costs. This is called Beihilfe. The CDU wants to keep this system. It is against one single insurance for everyone.

The FDP supports the federal government's plan to allow the controlled sale of cannabis to adults. Sales are to take place in licensed stores.

The federal government wants to allow cannabis for adults. It should only be sold in special stores. These stores need a license. The FDP in NRW supports this plan.

The FDP wants to implement the reform of hospital planning on the ground. Complex treatments are to be concentrated at suitable sites, duplicate services in urban centers reduced and care in rural areas secured.

The FDP wants to reorganize hospitals. Only especially suitable hospitals should do difficult treatments. In big cities, some services exist twice. That should be reduced. Care in rural areas should stay secure.

The FDP wants to secure local health care, especially in rural areas, and create more places to study medicine for that purpose. Rural doctor programs are to be stepped up, and career changers moving into family medicine are to receive continued support.

Rural areas lack doctors. The FDP wants more places to study medicine. It wants to strengthen programs for rural doctors. In Bielefeld, students should also be able to study pharmacy.

The FDP wants to make greater use of digital tools in health care to treat patients more efficiently. This includes the Virtual Hospital, artificial intelligence in diagnosis and digital networking across all areas of care.

The FDP wants more digital technology in medicine. Computer programs should help with diagnosis. Doctors, hospitals and care services should be linked digitally. The data should be secure. Using it should stay voluntary.

The FDP wants to network local health offices digitally, make them more attractive to young doctors and relieve them of some tasks. A state health office with a rapid response team is to support local offices when needed.

The FDP wants to strengthen public health offices. The offices should work together digitally. Working there should become more attractive for young doctors. A state office should be able to help local offices quickly.

The FDP wants to expand preventive care and health promotion for all age groups so that illnesses are avoided or detected early. Waiting times for psychotherapy are also to fall, and mental illness is to be destigmatized.

The FDP wants more preventive health care. Children and teens should get extra checkups. Schools should teach more about health. Adults should go for a checkup every two years. People who need therapy should wait less.

The FDP wants to improve working conditions in the rescue services and equip them better digitally. A statewide online system is to show hospitals' free capacity in real time, and urgent care practices are to relieve emergency rooms.

The FDP wants to improve the rescue services. Staff should get better working conditions. An online system should show where hospitals have free capacity. Urgent care practices should be located right at emergency rooms.

The FDP wants to enable a self-determined and dignified death and improve hospice and palliative care. Doctors who accompany dying patients should not face the threat of punishment.

People should be able to decide for themselves at the end of life. The FDP wants better care for dying people. Doctors should be allowed to accompany the dying. There should be no punishment for this.

The FDP wants to improve working conditions in nursing care to counter staff shortages. Less red tape, better pay, digital technology, more training places and recruiting professionals from abroad are meant to help.

Nursing care lacks skilled workers. The FDP wants to make the job more attractive. Technology and robots should make the work easier. There should be more training places. Care workers from abroad should come too.

The Greens want to secure medical care, especially in rural areas, through "health regions" in which outpatient and inpatient services are planned together. They reject further hospital privatization and want to return hospitals to public ownership where possible.

Rural areas often lack doctors and hospitals. The Greens want to set up health regions. There, doctors' offices and hospitals plan together. Hospitals should no longer be sold to private companies. In an emergency, everyone should reach a hospital quickly.

The Greens want to strengthen local health departments with more money, a separate pay scale for medical staff, and better digital equipment. They also want to improve prevention and pandemic preparedness.

The Greens say health departments have too little money and staff. They want to give them more money. Doctors there should get their own pay scale. The state should prepare better for pandemics. Prevention should also matter more.

The Greens want to implement the recommendations of the state psychiatry plan. These include more outpatient crisis support, shorter waits for therapy, and fewer involuntary commitments.

People with mental illness need help quickly. The Greens want to offer more help in a crisis. People should not wait so long for therapy. Fewer people should be put in a clinic against their will.

The Greens want to secure access to medical care for people without health insurance, such as refugees, homeless people, and undocumented people, through an anonymous health voucher. For people with disabilities, an inclusion plan would reduce barriers in the health system.

Some people have no health insurance. For example, people without papers or homeless people. The Greens want to bring in an anonymous health voucher. With it, people can see a doctor without giving their name. People with disabilities should also get better care.

The Greens want health care to take gender into account, strengthen maternity care, and make abortion available close to home. In the platform's view, medicine has so far been geared too much to the male body.

The Greens say medicine often looks mainly at men. They want studies to look at women and men separately. Midwives should get more support. Women should be able to end a pregnancy near where they live.

In long-term care, the Greens favor shared housing and outpatient services in the neighborhood over more large nursing homes. They expect the federal government to deliver a "double care guarantee" with capped out-of-pocket costs, and they want to strengthen staffing and training.

Many older people do not want to live in a large home. The Greens want more care in people's own neighborhoods. Care should stay affordable. So there should be a limit on what people pay themselves. Care insurance pays the rest. There should be more care workers.

The Greens consider cannabis prohibition unsuitable and want to move quickly on regulated sales to adults in NRW as soon as federal law allows. Addiction counseling, drop-in centers, and supervised consumption rooms would continue to be funded.

The Greens think the ban on cannabis is wrong. Adults should be able to buy cannabis in controlled shops. First the federal government must change the law. Addiction advice centers will keep getting money. Children and teens should get special protection.

The SPD wants lunches in daycare centers and schools to meet the standards of the German Nutrition Society and to be free for children from low-income families. School health nurses are also to be introduced at schools.

Children should get healthy lunches at daycare and school. For children from poor families, lunch should be free. Schools should also have health nurses. They look after children and school staff.

The SPD wants to keep all hospital sites in North Rhine-Westphalia and end closures. Some hospitals may be given a different care mandate. The platform argues that sick people need a hospital nearby.

The SPD does not want to close any hospital in the state. All sites should stay. Some hospitals may get different tasks. Sick people should have a hospital close to home.

The SPD wants to overcome the separation between outpatient and inpatient care and between statutory health insurance and long-term care insurance. Doctors' practices and hospitals are to work together more closely. According to the platform, this brings more efficiency without extra pressure on staff.

Today doctors' offices and hospitals are strictly separate. The SPD wants them to work together more closely. Health centers should help with this. Towns and cities should have more say.

The SPD wants to reform hospital funding in two steps and build up stocks for medical emergencies. Local public health offices are to get more staff, money and digital equipment. Savings are not to come from staff, quality or sites but from cutting red tape.

The SPD wants to change how hospitals get their money. The state should store supplies for emergencies, such as masks and tests. Public health offices should get more staff and money. Unneeded rules should go.

The SPD wants to regulate how much profit private hospital operators, hospital companies and hospital groups may take out of their facilities. If operators pull out as a result, hospitals could return to municipal ownership. The party wants the money to benefit local health care.

Some hospitals belong to private companies. The SPD wants rules on how much profit these companies may take out. The money should stay in health care. If companies give up, towns and cities should be able to take over the hospitals.

The SPD wants to bring more family doctors to rural areas and to urban neighborhoods with few privately insured patients. It plans financial incentives and additional medical school places. The platform points to an expected drop in the number of family doctors by 2030.

Rural areas do not have enough family doctors. Poorer city neighborhoods also lack them. The SPD wants to bring more doctors there. It wants to offer money for studies and for new practices. It also wants more places to study medicine.

The SPD wants nurses, therapists, and doctors to learn together more during training and university studies. Nursing and therapy professions are to get educational paths up to a doctorate. More university places are planned for midwives.

Nurses, therapists, and doctors should learn together during their training. People who work in nursing should be able to study further. This should go all the way to a doctorate. There should be more study places for midwives.

The SPD wants statewide, barrier-free dental care and supports owner-run local pharmacies. Gaps in care for mental, neurological, and orthopedic conditions are to be closed. The platform argues that prevention costs less than expensive treatment later.

There should be dentists everywhere in the state. New practices should be easy to enter for everyone. Pharmacies should also be nearby everywhere. The SPD says prevention is cheaper than costly treatment later.

The SPD wants to fund health guides with state money and set up barrier-free "health kiosks" in urban areas. These neighborhood contact points are to offer easy-access information on prevention, illness, and care. People without health insurance should also get help there.

The SPD wants to use health guides. These are people who advise on health questions. Big cities should get health kiosks. Everyone can get advice and help there. This includes people without health insurance.

The SPD wants to create more outpatient therapy places and hospital places, including in child and adolescent psychiatry. Counseling and therapy should be easy to access and available at short notice. The party says mental illness, suicide, and loneliness must not remain taboo.

Many people wait a long time for therapy. The SPD wants to create more therapy places. This also applies to children and teenagers. Help should be quick and easy to get. Schools should offer more psychological support.

The SPD wants to ease the burden on family caregivers, including through comprehensive advice in care competence centers and more places for short-term, day, and night care. Time spent caring should count toward pensions, and caregiving should be compatible with work and family. The platform notes that three quarters of people needing care in the state are looked after at home by relatives.

Many people care for relatives at home. The SPD wants to help them. There should be centers with good advice. There should be more places for day care and short-term care. Time spent caring should count toward the pension.

Following the example of Rhineland-Palatinate, the SPD wants to deploy specially trained professionals as "Gemeindeschwestern" (community nurses) who advise people at home. It also wants to promote alternative housing such as shared care apartments and digital aids. The goal is for people to live independently for as long as possible.

The SPD wants community nurses. These are trained workers who visit older people at home and advise them. There should be more shared homes for people who need care. Digital tools should also help in daily life.

The SPD wants to reduce the strain in care professions with shorter, reliable working hours, fair pay, and better career prospects. Programs are to win back care workers who have left the field. The party rejects a nursing chamber with compulsory membership against the will of employees.

Many care workers leave their job early. The SPD wants to make the work easier. Working hours should be shorter and reliable. Pay should be fair. Nobody should be forced to join a nursing chamber.

The SPD wants public funding for care facilities so that the investment costs charged to nursing home residents go down. At the federal level, it also pushes for a cap on residents' out-of-pocket contributions.

A place in a nursing home costs a lot. Residents also pay for buildings and equipment. The SPD wants the state to give homes money for this. Residents would then pay less. The share residents pay themselves should also get a limit.

The SPD wants to accompany the federal government's planned cannabis legalization with a statewide prevention and youth protection program. Addiction counseling for people at risk and their relatives is also to be secured.

The federal government wants to allow cannabis. The SPD wants a program across the whole state to go with it. The program should warn about addiction and protect young people. Addiction counseling should stay secure. Families and children matter most here.