Throughout large parts of the pandemic, Sweden has had a higher infection and hospitalization rate than its neighboring countries.
Now – just days after the country removed all coronary restrictions – rings the alarm bells again at several Swedish hospitals. A critical shortage of staffing leads to extremely long waiting times for patients, who have recently had to lie in corridors for hours waiting for available hospital beds.
– We are conducting forensic treatment right now. It is a battlefield, says specialist nurse at the emergency room at Danderyd Hospital in Stockholm, Jenny Pettersson, to Aftonbladet.
Predict fall before Easter
Waited 44 hours: – Unmanageable
The situation is worst in the emergency rooms in the capital area.
– Right now we have a very strained situation in almost all emergency rooms. Then, unfortunately, there will be long waits. It’s tough now, says chief physician in the Stockholm Region, Johan Bratt.
On Tuesday night, almost 150 patients visited the emergency room at Södersykehuset. On the same day, 140 people were registered in the emergency room at Danderyd Hospital – a clinic intended for 80, the newspaper writes.
The high pressure combined with high sickness absence among the employees means that patients with broken bones, suspected covid infection and respiratory and heart problems remain in the corridors for hours. On Tuesday, several had to wait for more than 12 hours for medical supervision, one of whom remained in the corridor for a full 44 hours – almost two full days – waiting for a free bed.
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– It will be completely unmanageable. The emergency room is not designed to take care of patients that way for such a long time. We do not have the resources with the right medicines, and we can not give them the care they need, says specialist nurse Olivia Svensson.
– Extremely tough
Unlike earlier in the pandemic, the challenge is not too few beds. The hospitals have enough space to treat the number of patients – but not enough staff.
– Never gets herd immunity
– The problem right now is that so many of the employees are ill. The care places are physically accessible, but we have problems staffing them. This means that some patients have to wait far too long, says Bratt.
The main problem is related to congestion over long periods during the pandemic.
– Exactly this pandemic we have not seen before in modern times. It has been extremely tough for our employees. Right now it is about getting sick leavers back to work as quickly as possible.
