A number of hospitals in North Rhine-Westphalia are challenging the hospital reform in the region. According to a spokesperson for the NRW Health Ministry, 95 lawsuit proceedings and 20 preliminary injunction proceedings, a total of 115 procedures, have been filed with the ministry.
The majority of the lawsuits pertain to a hospital not receiving a care assignment for a specific service group, the spokesperson told the Rheinische Post. In the hospital planning decrees, roughly 6,200 individual decisions on the allocation of service groups are included.
The longest individual lawsuit period has expired, with the last deadline having been February 23, 2025. The spokesperson remains optimistic, stating, “The decisions on service groups were carefully and thoroughly developed with a comprehensive participation process. However, it was always clear that the new plan would mean a change for most hospitals and that court proceedings would ensue.” Now, the ministry is waiting for the outcome of the remaining procedures.
The ministry has recently won its first preliminary injunction case at the Administrative Court in Aachen, which concerned the care of premature babies at the Marien Hospital in Düren.