Hospital occupancy in Saxony-Anhalt stays modest
In the year 2021, Saxony-Anhalt, a region in Germany, saw a decrease in hospital bed occupancy and inpatient treatment compared to the previous year.
The total number of beds in Saxony-Anhalt hospitals was 14,558, distributed across 45 hospitals. However, by the end of 2021, there were 3.1% fewer beds compared to 2020, amounting to a reduction of 463 beds.
The average length of stay for inpatients in Saxony-Anhalt hospitals in 2021 was 7 days. The hospital bed occupancy rate decreased to 63.3% in 2021, down from 63.8% in 2020.
The average full-time equivalent number of medical staff in Saxony-Anhalt hospitals slightly decreased to 4,739 in 2021. Meanwhile, the number of non-medical staff increased by 4.3%, totaling 22,827. The total number of non-medical staff in Saxony-Anhalt hospitals in 2021 was 29,589.
In 2021, a total of 479,555 people were treated as inpatients in Saxony-Anhalt hospitals, which was 28,169 fewer than in 2020. The number of intensive care beds remained at 819, while there were 321 intermediate care beds available.
The decrease in hospital bed occupancy and inpatient treatment can be attributed to several factors, primarily the evolving dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic and corresponding public health measures. Improvements in pandemic management such as vaccination rollout, improved treatment protocols, and revised hospitalization criteria reduced severe COVID-19 cases requiring hospitalization.
The prioritization of hospital admissions evolved to focus on severe COVID-19 cases, along with deferral of elective and non-urgent treatments during infection peaks. This selective admission slowed inpatient treatment volumes, decreasing occupancy rates compared to 2020.
Critics noted that calculation methods for hospitalizations lagged behind actual cases by several days, complicating real-time hospital bed occupancy assessment. This was addressed by adjustments in data reporting and definitions, clarifying hospitalization numbers from late 2021 onward.
A decline in non-COVID admissions could also be due to patient hesitancy to seek hospital care during the pandemic or a temporary reduction in elective procedures, further lowering inpatient bed use.
Implications of this decrease include improved hospital resource availability, reduction in healthcare system strain, and enabling focus on critical COVID-19 cases and backlog reduction of elective procedures. However, the decrease also raised concerns about delayed care for non-COVID patients and the need to balance pandemic response with routine healthcare services.
It's important to note that no specific information about changes in non-intensive or non-intermediate care beds, reasons for the decrease in hospital bed occupancy, or patient admissions or discharges was provided.
[1] Source: Regional Health Authority, Saxony-Anhalt (2021)
The decline in hospital bed occupancy and inpatient treatment in Saxony-Anhalt hospitals in 2021, as reported by the Regional Health Authority, could be linked to the evolving dynamics of medical-conditions such as COVID-19, improvements in health-and-wellness management like vaccination rollout and revised hospitalization criteria, and a potential reduction in elective procedures due to patient hesitancy. News reports might also delve into the science behind these changes, analyzing how they affected the overall health-and-wellness landscape of the region.
