“Germany must remain a #countryofgppractices”: With this call to action, the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) is launching a new phase of its campaign shortly before the federal election.
The appeal is becoming more urgent: politicians must act now to ensure that local healthcare provision by doctors and psychotherapists is maintained. Since 2024, the campaign “We are close to you” has been telling emotional stories about the special closeness that defines the doctor-patient relationship in private practice. Yet medical practices in Germany are coming under increasing pressure.
TV advert shows what is at stake here
The new TV advert uses a mix of real-life footage and AI-modified images to highlight the heart of the campaign: Germany’s landscape of medical practices, with its more than 100,000 medical and psychotherapy practices. Here, doctors know not only their patients’ medical records, but also their personal stories. But if regulations and requirements increase, bureaucracy grows and digitalisation continues to be inadequately implemented, more and more practices will close down or fail to find successors. This will primarily affect patients who rely on good local healthcare. They stand behind their doctors, because ultimately everyone wants the same thing: high-quality, local outpatient care.
The visuals, featuring two female GPs and one male GP as the faces of the campaign, pick up on this. With headlines such as “Voters are sitting in the waiting room”, “We’re speaking out so that Germany remains a country of GP practices” and “My patients stand behind me”, they call on politicians to commit to a country of GP practices and take action: Germany must remain a country of GP practices.
Political demands take centre stage
“The scenario is grim: patients losing their local GP practices. Our advert shows what is at stake when the lights gradually go out in the land of GP practices,” emphasises Claudia Díaz Sánchez, managing director of the Berlin-based agency ressourcenmangel, which developed the campaign. “Yet this proximity is central to good healthcare and thus to a good quality of life. When practices close, it is ultimately the patients who suffer.”
“Whether it’s time pressure or bureaucratic red tape, doctors and psychotherapists face many challenges in their daily practice. Emotional closeness is what holds the system together,” says Sebastian Stelzer, the agency’s creative director. “As patients, we don’t just go to any old surgery; we go to ‘our’ doctor, to ‘our’ surgery. These are also important places for social cohesion. That is why we must not lose this network of surgeries.”
The future is at stake
With the upcoming federal election in mind, this phase of the campaign is a crucial step in shaking up the political establishment and the public, and raising awareness of the difficult situation facing GP practices. Dr Roland Stahl, press spokesperson for the KBV, emphasises: “There is a great deal of emotion in this advert – serving as a stark warning to politicians not to jeopardise local healthcare provision. Dedicated GPs and psychotherapists form the backbone of outpatient care. Germany as a land of medical practices stands for trust, care and humanity. That is why Germany must remain a land of medical practices.”
The campaign will be shown on TV and digital channels, in DOOH, as well as in political newsletters, podcasts and print media. It will run for five weeks and has a planned reach of 163 million contacts.
At ressourcenmangel, Managing Director Claudia Díaz Sánchez, Creative Director Sebastian Stelzer, Creative Director Rebekka Korthues, Senior Art Director Josephine Jänicke, Art Director Mary Cheung and Susanne Litty are responsible for the consultancy work. WPP Media Solutions is responsible for media, with Managing Director Hamon Hediyati and Associate Director Client Service Antonia Schippmann. The films were produced by Markenfilm Berlin.
