ENAmong the hospitals in Bremen, Germany, the largest is Klinikum Bremen-Mitte, part of the city-owned group Gesundheit Nord in the very centre of Bremen. It offers the highest level of hospital care and round-the-clock emergency treatment, but it is not a university hospital.
Below: which hospitals Bremen has and who runs them, what kind of hospital Bremen-Mitte is, when a complex case is better treated in Hamburg, and how to be admitted from abroad.
Who Runs the Hospitals in Bremen
Four large hospitals in Bremen belong to the city, and several more are run by churches and charities. The city’s hospitals — Bremen-Mitte, Bremen-Nord, Bremen-Ost and Links der Weser («left of the Weser») — form the municipal group Gesundheit Nord Klinikverbund Bremen, GeNo for short. Each of the other three has its own focus: Bremen-Ost is known for psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine, Links der Weser has specialised in heart disease for many years, and at Bremen-Nord vascular surgery, geriatrics, psychiatry, obstetrics and the children’s hospital stand out. The Bremerhaven hospital has a page of its own.
The Protestant DIAKO (Ev. Diakonie-Krankenhaus) in the west of the city offers surgery, gynaecology and obstetrics, haematology and oncology, ENT, orthopaedics and urology. The Catholic St. Joseph-Stift focuses on gynaecology and childbirth, with a breast centre, a bowel cancer centre and geriatrics. The non-profit Red Cross Hospital (Rotes Kreuz Krankenhaus Bremen) specialises in vascular surgery, rheumatology, joint replacement and trauma surgery, while the Roland-Klinik is an orthopaedic hospital with centres for hand, joint and spine surgery. Bremen has no medical faculty of its own and no university hospital: the GeNo hospitals serve as teaching hospitals of the universities of Göttingen and Hamburg.
Klinikum Bremen-Mitte: What Kind of Hospital It Is
Klinikum Bremen-Mitte is a maximum-care hospital (Maximalversorgung), the highest level of hospital care in Germany, in the very centre of Bremen. The most seriously ill and injured patients are treated here around the clock: the central emergency department for adults and children is open every day of the year. The hospital is an academic teaching hospital of the University of Göttingen. See also the page on general hospitals in Germany.
Its departments include haematology and oncology, radiotherapy, neurosurgery, neurology with a stroke unit, urology, trauma surgery and orthopaedics, thoracic surgery (operations on the lungs and chest), vascular and plastic surgery, and eye and ENT clinics. Children are treated at the parent-and-child centre (Eltern-Kind-Zentrum), where a maternity unit, paediatric surgery, paediatrics, neonatology (care of newborns) and paediatric intensive care share one roof. The cancer centre combines specialised centres for breast and gynaecological cancer, prostate cancer, head and neck tumours, brain tumours and digestive cancers, as well as paediatric oncology and blood cancers.
The hospital’s cancer centre is certified by the German Cancer Society (DKG), and anyone can check this: the German Cancer Society’s finder for certified cancer centres (OncoMap) lists it as Onkologisches Zentrum Gesundheit Nord – Bremen-Mitte.
When Hamburg Is the Better Choice
A rare disease, an organ transplant or complex cancer treatment is a reason to consider a university hospital: a hospital attached to a medical faculty that combines patient care with research and teaching. Bremen has none, but Hamburg does; see the overview of hospitals in Hamburg.
UKE Hamburg (Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf) was founded in 1889. Together with its University Heart and Vascular Centre and the Martini-Klinik, it has more than 1,730 beds. It is the hospital of the University of Hamburg and a public institution, a corporation under public law.
The other partner hospitals in Hamburg are Asklepios Clinic St. Georg and Albertinen Hospital. St. Georg is an academic teaching hospital of the University of Hamburg; its first buildings on today’s site went up in the 1820s. Albertinen Hospital has 770 beds and is a teaching hospital of the University of Hamburg’s medical faculty.
What a Patient from Abroad Should Prepare
A patient needs medical records translated into German: discharge reports, the histology report (tissue examined under a microscope), CT and MRI images on disc with their reports, and a list of current medications.
The hospital itself decides on admission after reviewing the records. A self-paying patient pays the hospital directly against its estimate (Kostenvoranschlag), a preliminary cost calculation for the specific treatment plan.
Frequently asked questions
Is Klinikum Bremen-Mitte a university hospital?
No. Klinikum Bremen-Mitte is a maximum-care hospital and an academic teaching hospital of the University of Göttingen, where medical students do part of their training. But Bremen has no medical faculty and no university hospital. If doctors recommend a university hospital, for example for a rare disease, patients look for one in another city, such as Hamburg.
Does Klinikum Bremen-Mitte treat children?
Yes. The hospital’s parent-and-child centre (Eltern-Kind-Zentrum) brings together a maternity unit, paediatric surgery and urology, paediatrics, neonatology and paediatric intensive care. A separate children’s emergency department treats acutely ill children around the clock. The hospital’s cancer centre also includes a paediatric oncology centre for children and adolescents with cancer and blood disorders.
Where is heart disease treated in Bremen?
Heart disease is the speciality of Klinikum Links der Weser, part of the city’s GeNo group. It houses the Herzzentrum Bremen heart centre with cardiology, angiology and cardiac surgery, as well as a department for congenital heart defects and paediatric cardiology. Its heart attack centre works around the clock, and an outpatient rehabilitation centre in the same building continues care after discharge.
Can a patient from abroad be treated at Klinikum Bremen-Mitte?
A patient from abroad can apply, but the hospital itself decides on planned admission after reviewing the translated discharge reports, histology and imaging. A self-paying patient pays the hospital directly against its estimate. Klinikum Bremen-Mitte is not one of AlenMed’s partner hospitals: the company prepares and sends the enquiry and, for a complex case, contacts a partner hospital in Hamburg in parallel.
How AlenMed Arranges Treatment in Bremen
AlenMed translates the medical records and sends the enquiry to the right department in Bremen and, for a complex case, in parallel to a partner hospital in Hamburg, so that the patient can compare the answers. The whole process is described on the page on arranging treatment in Germany.
Once the hospital agrees to admit a patient, AlenMed requests the estimate and the visa invitation, provides an interpreter and helps with accommodation for the patient and companions. The company’s office is in Munich; its partner hospitals are across Germany.
This material is for reference only and is not an offer. The treatment plan is decided by a doctor at a face-to-face consultation.