The Asklepios Harzkliniken will close its department for maternity services and gynaecology in Goslar on 31 December 2026. The operator announced the move on 12 November, citing falling birth numbers and difficulties recruiting staff. For expectant parents, the decision means they will have to go to a hospital outside Goslar to give birth in future.
According to the company, 486 babies were born at the Goslar hospital in 2020. Asklepios expects around 330 births in 2026. This is a forecast; the final figure for the current year is not yet known. Alongside the decline, the operator cites the loss of specialist staff as a reason for the closure. The senior medical post was not filled again after its holder resigned. In addition, two midwives resigned.
The management argues that with fewer births it becomes harder to build up sufficient experience in dealing with rare complications and to maintain the necessary specialist expertise around the clock. This is the clinical operator’s professional rationale for its decision. It also points to a problem faced by smaller sites: a low number of procedures makes it harder to ensure that staff and experience are consistently available on every shift.
According to the management, other roles are to be found for the employees. Nearly 50 staff are affected, NDR reported. The information published so far does not say whether suitable alternative employment can be arranged for everyone, or on what terms.
According to Asklepios, Lower Saxony’s Ministry of Health does not consider maternity care in the region to be at risk despite the closure. The operator points, among other places, to maternity hospitals in Wolfenbüttel and in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in Wernigerode. NDR also names both towns as alternatives. The actual journey time for pregnant women will, however, depend on where they live and on traffic conditions.
An analysis cited by the operator, carried out using the GKV hospital simulator, concludes that the average journey to the nearest maternity hospital in the area affected will increase from 11.4 to 14.3 minutes. An average, however, does not indicate how long the journey will be for individual families.
The decision raises a fundamental question about hospital planning: larger maternity units can pool staff and experience, but closing a site also means longer journeys for some people. A government commission had recommended consolidating smaller maternity units into larger ones wherever possible. In this context, Asklepios cites a recommended target of at least 500 births a year. A recommendation, however, is not the same as saying that every smaller department must automatically close.
In Lower Saxony According to the state government, responsibility for ensuring hospital provision lies with the districts and independent cities. Decisions to close individual departments are generally made by the hospital operators. The Goslar case also illustrates the limits of direct government control over decisions made by a private operator.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).