In Germany, around 50,000 people suffer from cardiac arrest every year. If this happens outside of a hospital, the chance of survival is just ten percent – those who survive often suffer severe brain damage. “Carl” is supposed to help.

The device looks like a small diesel generator, with a display and several knobs. According to researchers at the University Hospital of Freiburg, the heart-lung machine can save three times more lives than previous devices.

A good thing, thought former Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking, and offered the Bietigheim clinic the device, which cost 100,000 euros. But the donation attempt failed – partly due to communication. The process illustrates deeper challenges facing the Regional Clinics Holding (RKH).

The Wiedeking Foundation supports projects in the areas of social affairs, culture and science, with a focus on Stuttgart and Bietigheim-Bissingen – the old place of work and home of Wendelin Wiedeking. At the beginning of the year, the foundation’s management became aware of the new miracle device “Carl”.

According to their own statement, the foundation’s board then contacted Bietigheim’s mayor, Jürgen Kessing, who sits on the supervisory board of the Ludwigsburg-Bietigheim Clinics (KLB). Kessing made contact with the relevant doctors at the clinic, but it quickly became clear that the donation would not come to fruition.

According to the RKH management, the use of “Carl” only makes sense if the appropriate space, equipment and personnel are available – a so-called cardiac catheter laboratory. However, this only exists in Ludwigsburg, not in Bietigheim. The background to this is the increasing specialization of the two hospitals. The clinics divide up areas of responsibility in order to avoid duplicate structures. A business decision and trend in the nationwide hospital landscape.

One could dismiss the whole thing as a stupid move – but there is more to the donation attempt. To the surprise of the Wiedeking Foundation, the management of the RKH never heard anything about the offer. RKH spokesman Alexander Tsongas confirmed this when asked.

The foundation assumed that the discussions with the doctors would also reach the management, says Anton Hunger, a member of the foundation’s board. “I cannot understand why the RKH is now saying they know nothing about it.”

RKH works council chairman Hagen Klee sees it similarly: “This should have been communicated internally in such a way that everything was clear to the foundation.” It is not the first time that weaknesses in internal communication have become apparent. In addition, the works council is of the opinion that the use of a “Carl” in Bietigheim would make sense – even without a cardiac catheter laboratory.

The whole thing is worrying the foundation, especially Wendelin Wiedeking. The RKH management is showing “no increased interest in the Bietigheim hospital,” says the former Porsche boss. He suspects that the management wants to “shut down” the clinic in Bietigheim. This development would not be in the interests of patients “who depend on intensive follow-up care in the event of cardiac arrest.”

In fact, future planning for the Bietigheim clinic is currently at a standstill. At the end of 2023, plans for the extension and new construction were stopped. The reason is the previously unforeseeable effects of the hospital reform by Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, according to the RKH management. Whether and how the clinic will be brought up to scratch is therefore up in the air.

It is a tricky situation, says works council chairman Hagen Klee. On the one hand, he understands that the RKH management wants to wait for the hospital reform. At the same time, the standstill is putting pressure on employees. “The workforce needs clarity, otherwise there is a risk that employees will leave the clinic.” Regional director Anne Matros and Bietigheim’s manager Janina Oehrle in particular are trying to send positive signals to employees.

These are turbulent times for the RKH management. First Anne Matros announced her departure, but then stayed because the end of managing director Jörg Martin was decided in February. In mid-May, the next excitement followed, surrounding the election of the new commercial managing director Axel Hechenberger. All of this ties up capacity. Works council member Klee hopes that the personnel issues will soon be resolved and that RKH can once again focus fully on the important issues of the future.

But what happens now with the donation? It seems unlikely that the Wiedeking Foundation will get a “Carl” for the Ludwigsburg clinic. The foundation’s focus is on Bietigheim. Otherwise, the foundation and the clinic currently appear to have no interest in making a second attempt at cooperation.

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The original of this article “Hospital does not accept “miracle device” as donation from ex-Porsche boss” comes from STUTTGARTER ZEITUNG.