Background: The humanitarian consultation-hour is a voluntary, anonymous offer provided by the City of Frankfurt am Main, which was established in December 2001. Here, people without health insurance or undocumented migrants can be treated for free. The aim of this analysis is to investigate the utilization of the consultation-hour by gender, age, country of origin and diagnosis since 2008.
Methods: The digital data documentation is available since 2008. Data from the years 2008-2013 were considered. The examination date, the date of birth, sex, country of origin, frequency of visits, diseases and medication amongst other data were examined.
Results: In the period from 2008 to 2013, 8,574 consultations were counted and 2,384 patients were treated during office hours. The amount of consultations has doubled between 2008 (n=673) and 2009 (n=1,154) and is rising steadily since then (1,911 visits in 2013). The majority of patients come from Africa. Since 2008, an increase of patients from Bulgaria and Romania has been recorded. Approximately two-thirds of the patients are female, one third male. One fifth of those seeking help are children and adolescents under 20 years and adults over 60 years. The most common age group is between 20-40 years old. The main diagnoses include diseases of the cardiovascular and vascular system and the musculoskeletal system, metabolic diseases (diabetes mellitus), digestive diseases and pregnancy/childbirth.
Conclusion: The humanitarian consultation-hour is an important offer provided by the Public Health Department of the City of Frankfurt am Main and is used by a large number of people who are seeking help. In particular, people from South Eastern Europe are increasingly visiting the consultation-hour. Activities such as the humanitarian consultation-hour can take over subsidiary activities for a transitional period, however long-term structural solutions must be provided to ensure access to health care for this vulnerable group.
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