On Monday, several measures came to Ahus – including increased staffing. It happens a month after employees at the emergency department gave notice of “tough weeks”.
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Critical operation in the emergency room several times a week, which means for many and for sick patients over time. That’s how it turned out the situation at the emergency room at Ahus described in early October.
There was a large influx of patients – several with respiratory infections, but it was especially difficult to get patients on from the emergency department and over to the ward. Many wards in the hospital were completely full and patients lay in the corridors daily.
VG has seen emails showing that the employees sounded the alarm:
October 6th An e-mail is sent to the doctors in specialization at the emergency department, informing them that the management has been notified of the need for measures after “tough weeks” for the employees. Concern is expressed about the situation.
October 26th the management is notified again. They are informed about “high work pressure, poor working conditions and unworthy treatment of patients”.
October 29th the management at the hospital holds a meeting to discuss the pressured situation.
One month after the management was notified in early October, it was Monday, November 1st introduced several measures, including increased staffing per shift, transfer of patients to relieve the emergency department and new measures for how to handle critical operations.
– Notice was sent of a lot of critical operation and full bed posts on 6 October. Have you introduced measures in time?
– I think we have implemented measures at the right level at the right time, says CEO Øystein Mæland to VG.
Figures VG has gained insight into show that sickness absence in the emergency department began to rise – to around nine percent this autumn.
– We see a clear connection between sickness absence and the burden many have faced over time, says Mæland.
On Tuesday, St. Olav’s hospital in Trøndelag decided to raise preparedness to the yellow level because the emergency room is full. The same is true of the wards, partly because the hospital is struggling to get finished patients discharged to the municipalities.
At Ahus, they have so far not chosen to raise preparedness.
–– What assessments have been made regarding raising the level of preparedness as the situation is now?
– Ongoing assessments are made as to whether there is a need for it. Where we stand now, I do not want to speculate. We have been on standby before for long periods during the pandemic, but then the situation has been different than now, says director Mæland at Ahus.
– Is the basic staff at Ahus good enough?
– I do not want to discuss basic staffing in the situation we are in now. Throughout the pandemic, we have had increased staffing in the most vulnerable areas, both in the emergency department, the intensive care unit and the covid posts, he answers.
Over 250 deviations
Employees are asked to write so-called deviations when incidents occur beyond the ordinary that affect patients or employees. Figures VG has had access to show that so far in 2021 more deviations have been written in the emergency department than in the whole of 2020. The figure for 2021 is 252, while the total for 2020 was 239.
– Employees who crying at work and vomiting from work tasks. What do you think when you receive such reports?
– When you vomit due to the situation, you can probably not get a clearer signal that this is far from a health-promoting workplace, the union representative for the Norwegian Nurses’ Association, Berit Langset, answers VG.
– Do you feel that the measures that have been introduced are sufficient to remedy the situation?
– Now it is increasingly planned that operations will be taken up and down, after progress. A thinking that is good on paper, but presupposes a number of elements. This time, I would venture to believe that the measures have been decided too late, she continues.
–– A difficult winter
Ståle Clementsen, who is the union representative for the doctors for Ahus, believes that the measures shift the problem inwards into the hospital.
– I do not think it is sufficient. When patients are previously moved further into the hospital, they arrive at bed posts that do not have space. But for the emergency room, it will probably be experienced as an improvement. However, it does not solve the overall problem, which is that we have too little space in the first place, he says to VG-
– Mostly the hospital is operated with full bedposts throughout the year. When there is a peak, either with infectious disease or injuries, we have little to go on, he adds.
He thinks the employees are having a difficult time.
– It looks like it will be a difficult winter and the hospital will be full. As it stands now, there is no relief to be gained from other hospitals. It is important that the management staffs up sufficiently, so that employees do not wear out until the winter is over, he says.
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