– Will explode in the next four to five days – VG
Several Danish municipalities have to cut offers for the elderly due to high sickness absence. Physical activity, cleaning and personal care come first.
More than half of all Danish municipalities are on emergency preparedness, informs FAOone of Denmark’s largest unions, to VG.
This means that the municipality must cut tenders – and prioritize less important tasks, says chairman of FAO’s social and health sector, Torben Hollmann, to VG.
– It’s just to prepare, he says.
– Many will get sick from omikron
On Tuesday, the Norwegian authorities eased most national initiatives. Some measures – such as the meter and bandage – exist.
The biggest challenges with the reopening have repeatedly been said to be increased sickness absence in Norwegian municipalities and hospitals.
Denmark experienced a faster increase in omicron infection and has had fewer initiatives in Norway. Therefore, their wave is a few weeks ahead of Norway, which makes it one of the most important countries the authority monitors.
FHI has also previously emphasized that Denmark is an important country to follow because the population and vaccine coverage are equal.
Municipalities in Denmark have experienced an increase in sickness absence in line with the increased infection in recent months. On 3 February, 31,841 new cases of infection were registered in Denmark.
In Lolland municipality, in the far south of Denmark, the various nursing homes lack between 25 and 75 percent of their regular workforce, wrote the municipality on its website on 1 February.
“Assistance with cleaning and other practical tasks will be downgraded in the near future,” writes the municipality.
On 1 February, Danes relieved all national initiatives. The coronavirus is no longer defined as a socially critical disease. Those who test positive must still be in isolation on fire days, or until you are symptom-free.
– The increase in sickness absence in the municipalities, which we have set in January, will explode over the next four to five days, Hollmann believes.
– Many will get sick from omikron.
– Simply not people to pick up
In week 5, Danish nursing and nursing homes had six percent corona-related sickness absence.
This corresponds to every 17th employee, the FAO states.
So far in the pandemic, 34 percent of all employees in Danish nursing and nursing homes have tested positive for corona.
An increase which has been particularly large in recent weeks:
In the latest risk report from the Statens serum institut (SSI) – equivalent to FHI in Norway – from week 2, this picture confirms:
The agency writes that they closely monitor the staffing situation, especially at Danish day care institutions.
“One must be aware that a high number of cases of infection and increased sickness absence are already putting great pressure on several units.”
– There are many older people who now get less cleaning between the residents, it takes longer care and visits, and it is cut in activity offers, says Hollmann.
He says it is not cut in medical aid. Nevertheless, Hollmann fears that more elderly people will be admitted to hospital in the coming months due to common diagnoses such as pneumonia and dehydration – because such cases are not detected enough.
– Can you not hire extra people to cover the employees who are ill?
– There was a great shortage of staff in elderly care in Denmark before the pandemic – and now we need even more. There are simply no people to pick up, says Hollmann.
Hollmann believes that this is a quantity that has been used intensively as a measure of the degree of measures through the pandemic, and that care for the elderly has been forgotten.
– Well, almost no one is hospitalized anymore, and society is opening up. The problem is that other services are hit hard by this. I think this is a dangerous situation.
– The situation has been under pressure this year, many are tired and have no profit. There are also many who are worn out in the hospitals, but she may also be subjected to planned surgeries for an extra capacity.
– You can not do that in elderly care. The elderly should have help every day, he says.
– Not possible to be up to full capacity
Danish hospitals also fear increased sickness absence in the coming weeks, confirms chief physician at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen and chairman of the Danish Association of Chief Physicians, Susanne Wammen, to VG.
– When the infection increases in society, it also increases among employees in the health care system. The hospitals therefore do not have the opportunity to be up to full capacity, and have not been in many months, she says.
– All planned operations that are not time-critical have been cut down. Thus the situation is reached, waiting for a planned operation, wait even longer.
– We have a large backlog in Denmark.
In a new report from SSI, as the newspaper Berlingske has mentionedit says that sickness absence at Danish hospitals is so high that it is unrealistic to take on the already long waiting lists in the coming weeks.
SSI writes in all regions in Denmark are experiencing increased pressure on the health service. In the capital region, 21,000 patients are waiting for postponed surgeries, writes the newspaper.
A study conducted by the Danish Medical Association of Danish TV2 shows that four out of five chief physicians experienced and extraordinarily high pressure on the job in January due to illness among employees.
At the same time, three out of four answer that they fear for their department’s capacity if the infection rates do not fall.
– Many are frustrated that we constantly have to cut back on the offer, but we try to the best of our ability to prioritize correctly with the resources we have, says Wammen.
She believes the number of employees on sick leave at the hospitals will increase in the coming weeks. At the same time, she experiences in the population an expectation that everything is back to normal when society has reopened.
– It really is not like that, unfortunately.