“Poliklinik” in the German Democratic Republic after 1945: The Unification of Outpatient and Inpatient Care in Hospitals

In this chapter the history of the outpatient departments, their fields of activity, financing, the actors involved and the health policy objectives associated with their implementation will be discussed and the question asked, as to how outpatient-hospital-units were the central providers of medical care in the German Federal Republic (GDR) after the end of the Second World War until its abolition with the Unification Treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the GDR in 1990.