‘Regular care is under pressure due to a shortage of beds’ | Inland

This is reported by the National Network Acute Care (LNAZ). There are currently 433 corona patients in hospitals outside the IC’s. That number is increasing. On Saturday, the National Coordination Center for Patient Distribution reported two new patients compared to Friday. For comparison; there are now 122 people with corona on the ic.

1300 coronabedden

The Covid-19 Upscaling Plan that the LNAZ presented last summer states that hospitals must be able to supply 1,300 corona beds outside the ICs. There are now 900 of them. These are beds that should be available without compromising regular care.

The cabinet has determined this because it does not want a repeat of last spring when operations and treatments were canceled on a large scale, which can cause health damage. That wish is now under pressure or can no longer be granted. For example, the Leiden University Medical Center postponed planned operations last week.

“It comes too soon”

“The pressure is increasing in many hospitals. Especially in hospitals in areas where the number of Covid patients is rising rapidly ”, says the spokeswoman for the LNAZ. “It will come too soon. There are still too few nurses. This is because there are still staff on vacation, but also because there are still people in the training. The staff is the biggest bottleneck at the moment. ”

In order to cope with the new influx of patients, the National Coordination Center for Patient Distribution became operational again last week. It moves patients from hospitals that no longer have a place to regions where there is still capacity. Eleven patients were transferred between Friday and Saturday afternoon, including nine non-IC patients. Almost seventy percent of these so-called clinical patients are located in the regions of Amsterdam, Leiden, Rotterdam and Brabant.

‘Maximum nationwide distribution’

“Only when we spread nationally as much as possible can we supply 1,300 non-IC beds,” says the LNAZ. “And with art and flying work, because in that case one nurse has to work for three beds, while the staff prefers to work with two patients. In one in three nurses do not always feel that they have the situation under control. ”

Last month, leading officials, such as chairman of the Dutch Association for Intensive Care Diederik Gommers and trade unions of nurses, warned in De Telegraaf that the care is not yet ready for a second corona wave.

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