According to the hospital itself, the decision is ‘very worrying’ and ‘is diametrically opposed to our sense of duty and our social function’.
As the influx of corona patients is increasing, it is more common for a hospital to decide to temporarily close the emergency room for covid patients. Usually this is for an hour, sometimes a few hours, and rarely even an entire night. But 24 hours straight is unprecedented.
Peter van der Meer, the hospital’s chairman of the board, states in a statement on the Albert Schweitzer site that he cannot do otherwise: ‘There is no other option, without compromising quality and safety for patients. that are now entrusted to our care. We cannot justify the latter in any way. That is why we choose the less bad of two very bad ones. ‘
The hospital has 35 beds available for corona patients, all of which have been occupied ‘for quite some time’. More new patients come in every day than there are patients who leave the hospital: the flow to, for example, recovery departments in nursing homes is stagnating because there are no places there either. The number of infections among hospital staff is also high, and continues to increase every day.
Jump
The hospital’s decision means that other hospitals in the region, such as the Maasstad Hospital in Rotterdam and the Beatrix Hospital in Gorinchem, will have to assist. ‘We already use all the resources available to us,’ Van der Meer writes. ‘The solution will have to come from outside the region and from above.’
The other hospitals in the region are also struggling. In the Roaz region of South West Netherlands, which includes Rotterdam and the surrounding area and Zeeland, the number of corona patients in the nursing wards increased from 261 to 292. Mondays (and Fridays) are the standard days when hospitals experience the most congestion .
Incidentally, the emergency department of the Albert Schweitzer remains open to patients who are in absolute danger to life. On Tuesday afternoon at noon, the hospital will review the situation.
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