Hallerwiese-Cnopfsche Children's Hospital and Nuremberg Hospital Merge: "Size Brings Real Added Value"
October 6, 2026
With the transition of the Hallerwiese-Cnopf Children’s Hospital to the Nuremberg Hospital, a new, large healthcare network is emerging in the Nuremberg metropolitan region. This merger offers insights into issues that also concern Bayern Innovativ in the healthcare sector. Sustainable hospital care is not merely a matter of new technologies. Equally crucial is how structures are further developed, expertise is consolidated, and change is managed. As a tertiary care hospital, Klinikum Nürnberg is part of the Bayern Innovativ GmbH Health Partner Network; its CEO, Prof. Dr. Achim Jockwig, is also a member of the advisory board of the Health Innovation Network. In this interview, Jockwig discusses the opportunities presented by this collaboration, the importance of transparent communication, and what hospitals need today to be well-positioned for the future.
Professor Jockwig, when you took over as director of Nuremberg Hospital in 2017, you said you wanted to “lead one of Germany’s largest municipal hospitals into a bright future.” Nearly ten years later, another significant milestone is on the horizon with the integration of the Hallerwiese-Cnopf Children’s Hospital. What does this step mean for the future of Nuremberg Hospital?
Prof. Dr. Achim Jockwig: The integration of the Hallerwiese-Cnopf Children’s Hospital is a significant step for us, one that was preceded by many lengthy discussions. Especially in light of hospital reform, the proximity to our North Campus creates important synergies. Together, we can maintain the necessary infrastructure and meet the requirements that are particularly important for pediatric and adolescent medicine as well as obstetrics. In doing so, we are creating a long-term outlook for these healthcare services.
The hospital market is very strained overall, and many hospitals are facing difficult economic situations. That is why, of course, we also had to examine very carefully the conditions under which the integration could be implemented. On the one hand, we are aware of our responsibility to provide care for the population; on the other hand, such an integration must be economically viable. I believe that, following intensive negotiations, we have reached a reasonable compromise and, with our medical concept, have created a promising future for these healthcare services.
When you look back on the past few years, what developments have had a particularly significant impact on the hospital?
Prof. Dr. Achim Jockwig: Digitalization has been—and continues to be—a major issue. As early as 2017, I said that I would like to see a digitalization innovation package for hospitals. With the Hospital Future Act, a corresponding initiative was later launched, laying an important foundation.
We ourselves, as Klinikum Nürnberg, had a lot of ground to make up and were still very paper-based at the beginning. In the meantime, we’ve been able to take important steps forward and will make significant progress in the coming years. At the same time, we see how difficult digitalization in the healthcare sector still is. There’s a lack of standards and functioning interfaces. There are still far too few plug-and-play solutions. As a result, we have to invest a great deal of resources in implementation. I would like to see significantly more standardization, interoperability, and regulation. Then we could drive innovation forward more quickly.
The integration of the Hallerwiese-Cnopf Children’s Hospital is much more than just a change in ownership. This integration will create one of the largest maternity hospitals in Germany as well as a major provider of pediatric and adolescent medical care. What specific benefits will this bring to patients?
Prof. Dr. Achim Jockwig: In this case, size brings real added value because it allows for a greater degree of specialization in medical expertise. If you consider, for example, our Level 1 Perinatal Center or pediatric intensive care, we will be able to maintain the necessary infrastructure on a scale that enables highly specialized care around the clock.
The same applies to obstetrics. Both hospitals already had more than 3,000 births per year each. Together, we’ll reach more than 6,000 in the future, still distributed across the two locations at Campus Süd in Nuremberg-Langwasser and Campus Hallerwiese in Nuremberg St. Johannis. Size does not mean that care becomes more impersonal. On the contrary: With appropriately large teams, we can ensure individualized care while also providing the necessary high-tech medical care when it is needed.
Where does it make sense to combine the expertise of both hospitals—and which services should be deliberately maintained at both locations?
Prof. Dr. Achim Jockwig: We won’t simply concentrate everything at one location. Both locations serve a vital role in providing care for the city. That’s why, for example, the emergency departments for pediatric care and pediatric surgery will remain at both locations.
In other areas, however, consolidation makes sense. A good example is pediatric intensive care and prenatal medicine for the care of premature infants. When these highly specialized services are consolidated at one location, the corresponding expert knowledge is also brought together there. This allows us to better ensure that the necessary expertise is available around the clock.
Major changes can only succeed with the people who implement them. What is particularly important to you when it comes to getting employees on board with this process?
Prof. Dr. Achim Jockwig: For me, transparent communication is absolutely crucial. We’ve kept employees informed at every stage of the process and, for example, presented the medical concept to them. In other words: What’s changing, and what’s staying the same? And what does this mean for each individual team?
Change is always a challenge for people at first, especially when they’re directly affected and can’t yet fully assess what’s to come. That’s why it’s important to maintain an ongoing dialogue—even if some issues take two, three, or four months to be fully resolved. My impression is that employees really appreciate this transparency.
If we were to meet again in five years: How would you know that the integration of the Hallerwiese-Cnopf Children’s Hospital has been successful?
Prof. Dr. Achim Jockwig: By the fact that we no longer even discuss whether a service is provided at Hallerwiese or at Nuremberg Hospital. For me, the integration would be successful if Hallerwiese hadn’t become an “island,” but rather if the Hallerwiese campus were naturally perceived as part of the Nuremberg Hospital and if the employees also saw themselves as part of the hospital. We saw evidence that the two hospitals are already growing together, for example, at our staff party this summer. Although Hallerwiese wasn’t yet part of the Nuremberg Medical Center at that time, we celebrated together and many wonderful connections were made.
The hospital landscape is undergoing major changes—hospital reform, a shortage of skilled workers, economic pressures, and rising quality standards, to name just a few examples. What does a hospital need today to remain sustainable in the long term?
Prof. Dr. Achim Jockwig: First and foremost, it is crucial that we ensure a high standard of quality in medical and nursing care—both in breadth and in depth. To achieve this, we must invest in the training and continuing education of our staff.
Medicine will become increasingly systematized and guideline-based. We will see more standardization, and that is also important. Only in this way can we meet the challenges of an aging society and the resulting increase in care needs. At the same time, advances in medicine and medical technology are constantly opening up new possibilities for us. Ultimately, however, all of this must remain financially viable.
A hospital cannot, however, meet these challenges on its own. We also need a reliable political framework. In my view, the hospital reform includes many sound approaches, such as consolidating services more effectively rather than expecting every hospital to offer everything. At the same time, healthcare structures vary considerably from region to region. The situation in Nuremberg is different from that in metropolitan areas with a high density of hospitals or in rural regions. Therefore, in my view, the reform’s objectives should be implemented more through regional healthcare plans.
Imagine you could actively help shape hospital reform and had three wishes. What would they be?
Prof. Dr. Achim Jockwig: First, I would drastically simplify hospital billing. The effort involved in billing on a case-by-case basis, disputes with health insurance companies, and audits and cross-checks ties up enormous resources without providing any benefit to patients. Instead of laboriously billing and then auditing every single service, I could envision a system with greater funding through fixed budgets—with clear rules, of course.
The second point would be a genuine reduction in bureaucracy. Of course, we need quality assurance and the appropriate tools. But we also need to restore trust. We shouldn’t create documentation requirements for everyone based on isolated cases of abuse.
My third suggestion concerns the distinction between outpatient and inpatient care. Hospitals should, as a general rule, be permitted to provide outpatient treatment in the specialties for which they offer inpatient care. This does not mean that we want to compete with our colleagues in private practice. Rather, it is about ensuring sensible and seamless treatment pathways.
You’ve already mentioned digitalization as a key driver of innovation. Looking further into the future, which technologies will have the greatest impact on medicine and day-to-day hospital operations?
Prof. Dr. Achim Jockwig: We will certainly see a major surge in innovation driven by artificial intelligence. AI can help us streamline bureaucratic processes and routine tasks. It will also play an important role in knowledge sharing and standardization.
At the same time, AI and robotics will continue to transform medicine itself. For example, they can help make surgical procedures safer and more precise. I believe these technologies will ease our workload in many areas and further advance medicine.
Nevertheless, we should always ask ourselves whether we really need to use new technology to make a complicated process more efficient—or whether we can’t simply simplify it from the ground up. In the case of complicated hospital billing, for example, I would prefer a simple billing system to having to manage the existing complexity in the future with the help of expensive AI.
You are a member of the advisory board for the Health Innovation Network at Bayern Innovativ and bring the perspective of a comprehensive care provider to the table. Why do you think the exchange between business, academia, and health care is so important?
Prof. Dr. Achim Jockwig: I think it’s important for us to understand each other’s concerns and challenges, as well as our needs for innovation. New developments and innovations can emerge especially within a network structure. We need dialogue with partners from industry to generate momentum for further development. A network structure is a wonderful platform for this.
After nearly a decade as CEO of Nuremberg Hospital, what still motivates you the most today?
Prof. Dr. Achim Jockwig: Nuremberg Hospital is simply a great place, to put it bluntly. It’s a magnificent hospital because it covers the entire spectrum of medicine—and does so with a high level of expertise. Being able to contribute to the further development of such an institution and successfully position it for the future brings me immense joy.
I particularly value the regular dialogue with our employees and a wide variety of experts, as well as the close connection to the city and its community. The City Council stands firmly behind our hospital, and we work together very constructively on the Board of Directors. This support is also enormously important for our work.
Thank you very much for the interview, Professor Jockwig!
