ENKlinikum Dortmund is the municipal hospital of the city of Dortmund in North Rhine-Westphalia — a Dortmund hospital in Germany wholly owned by the municipality and, by its own description, one of the largest municipal hospitals in the country.
Dortmund has several hospitals run by the city, churches and other owners; this page covers Klinikum Dortmund only. Its readers are usually patients abroad referred here, relatives of admitted patients and visitors who need a doctor. The region is also home to University Hospital Essen in the Ruhr area and Düsseldorf University Hospital in the state capital.
About Klinikum Dortmund: Sites, Size and Status
Klinikum Dortmund is a maximum-care hospital on two sites: by its own figures for 2026, it has 1,408 beds in the state hospital plan (Planbetten), around 5,100 staff and more than 415,000 visits a year — 65,000 inpatient admissions and 350,000 outpatient treatments. Klinikzentrum Mitte on Beurhausstraße, in central Dortmund, houses the heart centre, the women’s and maternity hospital, the children’s centre, surgery, orthopaedics and neurology. Klinikzentrum Nord on Münsterstraße, in the north, has the trauma hospital with its burns centre, urology, lung medicine and thoracic surgery.
Maximum care (Maximalversorgung) means taking on severe and complex cases, with emergency departments open around the clock; according to the hospital, every specialty except psychiatry is represented. Since October 2021 it has been Klinikum der Universität Witten/Herdecke: the university’s medical students receive clinical teaching here, and the hospital’s professors hold its chairs. Its history goes back to the Luisenhospital, opened in 1876 on today’s Mitte site; in 2002 the municipal hospitals became a non-profit company named Klinikum Dortmund.
Departments and Areas of Care
The hospital has 26 clinics, 40 certified centres and five institutes, with the main adult specialties grouped into centres. In the heart centre, cardiologists and heart surgeons treat everything from rhythm disorders to valve disease. The Westfälisches Krebszentrum brings together 17 departments that treat tumours, and the Westfälisches Neurozentrum links neurology, neurosurgery and neuroradiology for stroke, brain tumours and spinal disease. Some of its clinics, named as on its website:
- Klinik für Herz-Kreislauferkrankungen — cardiology, including round-the-clock catheter procedures
- Klinik für Herzchirurgie — bypass and valve surgery, advanced heart failure
- Klinik für Neurologie — stroke, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, dementia
- Klinik für Chirurgie — digestive organs, liver and pancreas, robotic surgery
- Klinik für Unfallchirurgie — multiple injuries, hand surgery, severe burns
- Klinik für Orthopädie — joint replacement, shoulder, foot, paediatric orthopaedics
- Klinik für Urologie — urological tumours, stones, incontinence
- Klinik für Frauenheilkunde und Geburtshilfe — pregnancy, birth, breast and gynaecological cancers
Children are treated at the Westfälisches Kinderzentrum: 166 beds, 32 of them for intensive care, for patients from extremely premature babies up to the age of 18. The children’s hospital, paediatric surgery and the women’s hospital together form a perinatal centre of the highest level (Level 1). In 2026 the Westfälisches Krebszentrum is listed in the register of the German Cancer Society (DKG) as an oncology centre (Onkologisches Zentrum), and the orthopaedic clinic has been certified as a joint replacement centre (Endoprothetikzentrum) since 2018. The hospital describes its stroke unit as supra-regional.
Emergency Care in Dortmund for Visitors
In a medical emergency in Germany, call 112, the free number that works around the clock; for problems that are not life-threatening but cannot wait until a practice opens, call the non-emergency medical assistance service on 116117, as the Federal Ministry of Health’s patient portal explains. Which emergency department (Notaufnahme) a patient is taken to depends on the rescue service, not on the patient. Klinikum Dortmund has central emergency departments at both sites, and the children’s hospital runs its own emergency unit. Patients are seen in order of medical urgency rather than arrival, so waiting times vary. For admission that cannot wait, see urgent hospital admission in Germany.
Location and Stay
Dortmund can be reached via Dortmund Airport or the larger Düsseldorf Airport, and its main station is served by long-distance trains. The city lies in the east of the Ruhr area and the two sites are in different districts, so the exact address of the department comes with the invitation. From the station, an underground line (U-Bahn) runs to the “Städtische Kliniken” stop at the Mitte site, and buses go to the Schützenstraße stop near Nord.
Rooms have a free TV, telephone and lockable wardrobe; patients who book elective services (Wahlleistung) also get toiletries, newspapers, drinks, fruit and a choice of lunch dishes. Visiting hours are daily from 8:00 to 20:00, and intensive care units can be visited at any time by arrangement. Relatives will find hotels most easily in the city centre. For consultations in English, see English-speaking doctors in Germany.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Klinikum Dortmund located?
It has two addresses: the Mitte site at Beurhausstraße 40, 44137 Dortmund, and the Nord site at Münsterstraße 240, 44145 Dortmund. Which one you need depends on the department: the women’s hospital and children’s centre are at Mitte, trauma surgery and urology at Nord. The exact address and building therefore come with the invitation.
Does Klinikum Dortmund accept patients from abroad?
Yes. It treats insured patients and self-payers alike; patients without confirmed cost coverage from an insurer pay in advance under the hospital’s terms. The cardiac surgery and urology clinics keep English-language pages for international patients. Whether a case can be taken on is decided by the relevant clinic after reviewing the translated records and scans.
Is Klinikum Dortmund a university hospital?
It calls itself Klinikum der Universität Witten/Herdecke: students of Witten/Herdecke University receive bedside teaching here, and the hospital’s professors hold the university’s chairs. Since 1976 it has also been an academic teaching hospital of the University of Münster. Legally, though, each partner stays independent under the cooperation agreement.
How AlenMed Arranges Treatment at Klinikum Dortmund
AlenMed has your medical records and scans translated into German and sends them to Klinikum Dortmund; the hospital decides whether it can take the case and issues a cost estimate (Kostenvoranschlag). The process is described under arranging treatment in Germany.
You pay the hospital directly; after the deposit it issues a visa invitation. An interpreter attends consultations, and you are met at the airport. Our office is in Munich and our partner hospitals are across Germany, so if another hospital in the region, say in Bochum or Essen, suits the case better, we will tell you — see our directory of hospitals in 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.