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Straight to the specialist
Germany has an unusually high density of doctors and, unlike Britain, no strict gatekeeping: you can make an appointment with a Facharzt — dermatologist, orthopaedist, gynaecologist — directly, without a referral from your Hausarzt, though a referral helps and some insurers encourage the GP route. The catch is the waiting time, and here the system's two-tier character shows. Around ninety per cent of people are gesetzlich versichert in the statutory funds; the rest are privatversichert, and private patients are widely reported to get appointments faster, a difference Germans grumble about openly. A few practical notes. Bring your insurance card to every appointment. Ask for a Überweisung if you want one, since it is a piece of paper rather than a conversation between doctors. Outside surgery hours, the ärztlicher Bereitschaftsdienst on 116117 handles anything not urgent enough for 112. And prescriptions are increasingly electronic, loaded onto the insurance card itself.