Current situation of in-patient paediatrics in Germany.: Results of the 4th consultation in in-patient paediatric units

In the course of the fourth consultation directed at all in-patient paediatric and paediatric surgical units with the aim of examining the status of care for children and adolescents in need of hospital treatment, in 2005, the Federal Working Group on Child and Hospital (BAKuK) approached 352 children's hospitals/paediatric departments by letter, and responses were received from 165 and 51 of these, respectively. The results of this consultation have been compiled in tabular form and compared with those collected in 1993, 1997 und 2001. It must be admitted that the questionnaires used were so comprehensive and elicited so much information that a great many of the results cannot be displayed in this publication. The evaluation so far has shown that the actual changes in all sectors are happening more slowly than the staff members' subjective impressions suggest.