UZ Gent is reducing the number of beds in intensive care by 20 percent. ‘We are working almost everywhere to guarantee well-deserved Christmas leave.’
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The 71 intensive beds at UZ Gent will increase to 57 during the holidays. A reduction of twenty percent. This decision is made to guarantee the requested vacation of the healthcare staff. ‘UZ Gent is certainly no exception, almost everywhere they work to guarantee well-deserved Christmas leave. And that requires puzzle work’, responds Margot Cloet of Zorgnet-Icuro.
Cloet is not afraid that the quality of care will deteriorate on Christmas or New Year’s Day. ‘Hospitals make holiday arrangements that do not jeopardize the quality of care. That’s not new. Such arrangements are also made at Easter’, she says.
Healthcare buddies and mid-care
In Antwerp, hospitals will not follow Ghent’s example. Antwerp Hospital Network (ZNA) has no plans to close ICU beds by the Christmas holidays. We gear our capacity to the need for care,” says ZNA spokesperson Tom Van de Vreken. However, that doesn’t mean their staff won’t be able to enjoy the holiday season. ‘Our employees can take the planned and earned vacation: there is no demand to take vacation. By postponing other care, we now only use these hands for urgent care, both covid and non-covid.’
The ZNA had previously set up a ‘mid-care’ department. That is a level between intensive and regular hospital care where ex-nurses work. It should ease the pressure on intensive care. Another initiative, in which voluntary care buddies take over non-nursing duties from nursing staff, serves the same purpose. ‘We hope that these measures will work, so that we can work at our normal capacity again soon,’ says Van de Vreken.
After four waves and 22 months of the corona crisis, some vacation will do you good, Cloet thinks. ‘Whoever wants to provide quality care sometimes needs rest.’
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