Facing long wait times for specialist appointments, Nicola Buhlinger‑Göpfarth, federal chair of the Association of General Practitioners, has called for sweeping reforms to Germany’s health system.
“Even though Germany has a relatively high density of specialists, many people still have to wait for a long time for an appointment” she told the “Rheinische Post”. She accused policy makers of “treating only the symptoms of an increasingly over‑burdened health system” for decades, warning that without addressing the root causes the situation will worsen.
Buhlinger‑Göpfarth underscored the urgency of rolling out a planned primary‑care system. “Better coordination will free up capacity in specialist practices for the truly urgent cases” she said. “The priority must be that people who really need a specialist appointment receive it promptly”.
Today, many patients end up in specialist offices where they are not needed, following a “first‑come, first‑served” model that she says is not the fault of patients but a reflection of a chaotic system in which everyone simply has to fend for themselves.
The CDU and SPD propose a binding steering framework that mandates patients to visit a general‑practice first and then receive a referral with an appointment within a set time window to a specialist. In 2024, the average wait for a statutory‑insured patient was 42 days.
The Greens have sharply criticized the rising wait times. Green Bundestag member and health‑policy spokesperson Janosch Dahmen called the trend a “health‑policy alarm signal” noting that “despite substantially higher spending, statutory‑insured now wait longer for specialist appointments than a few years ago”. He argues that costly access programmes without real steering do not work.
Dahmen also accused Health Minister Warken of failing to present a credible plan to shorten waiting times, reduce over‑ and under‑care, and make efficient use of resources. “Those who want to tackle long waiting times need a binding primary‑care system with clear responsibilities, digitally supported scheduling and medical prioritisation-rather than repeatedly launching new multi‑million‑programmes with no measurable benefit”.