Approximately one in every two emergency departments in Germany is currently overloaded, reaching levels so severe that patient safety is put at risk. According to a survey by the German Society for Emergency Medicine (DGINA)-a report covered by Spiegel and ZDF Frontal-nearly half of all hospitals with emergency admissions report that this strained situation has worsened over the past twelve months.
DGINA polled emergency departments across all federal states to assess their situation as of June 2, 2026. The findings reveal that 45 percent of these departments reported being overcrowded and overloaded on that day. The DGINA used the internationally established six-stage Cedoc overload scale to measure the capacity crunch. This scale ranges from Level 1 (lightly busy) through Level 4 (overcrowded), Level 5 (serious overload), and Level 6 (dangerously packed). Of the emergency departments surveyed, 31.4 percent classified themselves at Level 4, and 8.1 percent were in Level 5, indicating severe overcrowding. Furthermore, 5.5 percent reported reaching the highest level of critical overload.
Martin Pin, President of DGINA, stated that the results from the rapid survey were deeply alarming, noting that extensive international studies confirm patient safety is endangered during such periods of high strain.
The survey included 271 healthcare facilities of all service levels, which collectively reported more than 8.5 million patient contacts in 2025. In Germany, hospital outpatient clinics annually host up to 25 million emergency patients.
The primary reason cited by 60.6 percent of clinics for the overload was the inability to transfer patients from emergency departments to regular wards due to a lack of available beds. Compounding the issue are staffing shortages, which significantly worsen the emergency room load. Nearly two-thirds of hospitals reported vacant positions in either the medical department or nursing staff within their emergency teams. Only just under a third evaluated the current staffing levels of doctors and nurses as adequate. Participants were allowed to select multiple answers when citing the causes of overload and staffing defects.
