Bad Oeynhausen Hospital: Heart and Diabetes Center NRW and Other Clinics

The best-known Bad Oeynhausen hospital is the Heart and Diabetes Center NRW (HDZ NRW): this small spa town in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia is known above all for its university heart centre.

This page covers what the centre is and who leads it, which other clinics the town has, and when it makes sense for a patient from abroad to come here.

Bad Oeynhausen: A Spa Town with Heart Medicine

Bad Oeynhausen is a recognised spa town built around thermal saltwater springs, whose brine has long been used for therapeutic baths, including for muscle and joint disorders, in a historic bathhouse in the spa park. Health resorts and rehabilitation centres later settled around the baths, and healthcare shaped the town more than any other profession.

Complex cardiology came with HDZ NRW, a specialist hospital for heart, circulatory and diabetes diseases that later became a university hospital. The result is practical for patients: surgery or a catheter procedure at the university centre, then rehabilitation in the same town, without moving to another region.

Heart and Diabetes Center NRW (HDZ NRW)

HDZ NRW, the Heart and Diabetes Center NRW, is a specialist university hospital for adults and children with heart, circulatory and diabetes diseases. It was founded in 1980, has 500 beds and is part of the university hospital of Ruhr University Bochum. Around 36,000 patients a year are treated here, as inpatients and outpatients.

Surgeons operate on the heart, its valves and blood vessels; cardiologists widen narrowed arteries and replace valves through a catheter, a thin tube passed along a vessel, without opening the chest. A separate clinic provides arrhythmia treatment, including catheter ablation. There is also a heart failure centre and a diabetes clinic: heart and metabolic diseases are often linked, so diabetes in heart patients is treated on site. Prof. Jan Gummert, the medical director of HDZ NRW, heads the Clinic for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery; Prof. Philipp Sommer heads the Clinic for Electrophysiology and Rhythmology.

HDZ NRW is the largest heart transplant centre in Germany: more than 3,000 hearts have been transplanted here since 1989, and the 3,000th heart transplant took place in January 2026. Still, a donor heart cannot be “booked” or bought. Organs are allocated through Eurotransplant from a single nationwide waiting list, mainly by urgency and prospects of success; the centre’s transplant conference decides who joins it. Under the rules of the German Medical Association (Bundesärztekammer), a patient’s chance of receiving an organ must not depend on where they live or on money; a patient from abroad therefore cannot pay to bypass the list, and listing is assessed case by case. The children’s heart centre treats congenital heart defects at any age; Prof. Stephan Schubert leads paediatric cardiology and Prof. Eugen Sandica paediatric heart surgery.

Other Hospitals and Rehabilitation Clinics in Bad Oeynhausen

Besides HDZ NRW, Bad Oeynhausen has a general hospital and several rehabilitation clinics. The town hospital, Krankenhaus Bad Oeynhausen, belongs to the Mühlenkreiskliniken group and provides emergency and general care close to home, with a central emergency department, general, abdominal and trauma surgery, internal medicine, cardiology and pulmonology, and obstetrics.

Cardiac rehabilitation after heart and vascular surgery is offered, for example, by the Gollwitzer-Meier-Klinik, inpatient or outpatient, including straight after discharge from hospital. Orthopaedic rehabilitation after joint replacement, spinal surgery or fractures is provided by the Johanniter-Ordenshäuser Bad Oeynhausen rehabilitation centre, among others. In cardiac rehabilitation, patients regain fitness through supervised exercise therapy, learn to manage their condition and medication, receive nutritional advice and, if needed, psychological and social support for returning to daily life and work.

When It Makes Sense to Travel to Bad Oeynhausen

Travelling to Bad Oeynhausen makes sense when a large heart centre is needed: complex heart or valve surgery, severe heart failure, rhythm disorders, or a congenital heart defect in a child or adult. The options for heart surgery in Germany are described separately. The centre’s doctors decide from the documents, before any travel, which treatment fits.

For a first assessment, collect discharge reports and doctors’ letters, a recent ECG, echocardiography (heart ultrasound) results, the coronary angiography recording on a disc and a list of current medication with doses. Complete documents make the doctors’ answer more precise, but the final decision on treatment is only made after an in-person examination.

Frequently asked questions

Which hospitals are there in Bad Oeynhausen?

The best-known is the Heart and Diabetes Center NRW, a university hospital for heart, circulatory and diabetes diseases. General and emergency care is provided by the town hospital, Krankenhaus Bad Oeynhausen, part of the Mühlenkreiskliniken group. The town also has rehabilitation clinics for cardiology, orthopaedics and neurology.

Does the heart centre in Bad Oeynhausen accept patients from abroad?

Yes, HDZ NRW also treats patients from other countries. It usually starts with documents: doctors in the relevant clinic review the reports and test results and reply whether treatment is indicated. The hospital then issues a cost estimate, and only after that is the trip planned. A coordinator can handle translations, correspondence and visa paperwork.

Can I travel to Bad Oeynhausen for a heart transplant?

Not by arrangement: a donor heart cannot be bought or reserved. Organs in Germany are allocated from a single waiting list, mainly by urgency and prospects of success, and the centre’s transplant conference decides who is placed on it. For a patient from abroad, HDZ NRW doctors first review the documents and decide whether listing is possible.

Are children with heart defects treated in Bad Oeynhausen?

Yes. The children’s heart centre of HDZ NRW treats children, adolescents and adults with congenital heart defects, with one clinic for paediatric cardiology and another for paediatric heart surgery. Diagnostic tests, catheter procedures and heart operations are carried out there, and suitability is first assessed from the child’s documents.

How AlenMed Arranges Treatment in Bad Oeynhausen

AlenMed handles the correspondence: we translate the medical documents into German, send the enquiry to the right clinic within HDZ NRW and pass on the doctors’ reply with the cost estimate. If another German heart centre fits the diagnosis better, we name the alternatives. How arranging treatment in Germany works is explained separately.

Payment goes directly to the hospital according to its estimate. We help with the visa invitation, arrange an interpreter for consultations and find accommodation for relatives. The company’s office is in Munich; partner hospitals are located across Germany.

This material is for reference only and is not an offer. The treatment plan is decided by the doctor at a face-to-face consultation.