About 30,000 people from Brabant are still waiting for an intervention that previously had to be postponed due to corona. That is what Bart Berden says on behalf of the hospitals in our province. According to him, staff have their hands full with catch-up care. The problem is exacerbated by the high absenteeism among staff.
For many people it seems as if corona is far away: there are no longer any rules that we have to abide by. In hospitals, too, ‘corona’ with 160 patients only consumes a few percent of the whole. Yet the aftermath of the corona waves still cause misery.
“Corona is largely gone. But there are relatively many flu patients and there is a high level of absenteeism among staff. Double the number of hospital employees who normally sit at home,” says Bart Berden. “That makes it difficult to get to catch-up care, for the 30,000 people from Brabant who are still waiting for an intervention.”
Nevertheless, the hospitals have managed to shorten the waiting list considerably. By mid-December, there were 50,000 people from Brabant whose treatment was shelved.
“Hospitals have been busy training a lot of people for a long time, but that takes time.”
“Hospitals have been busy training a lot of people for a long time, but that takes time. We also try to prevent employees from not wanting to work for us anymore. In addition, we are finding new ways to care for people: there are many treatments that are done remotely. Then patients no longer necessarily have to come to the hospital,” explains Berden.
If all goes well, the catch-up care will be eliminated by the end of the year. But, says the hospital director, everything has to go well. And, for example, there should not be another corona wave that takes up a lot of hospital care. Berden: “That’s exciting. Because why wouldn’t that happen?”
“There could be a little more respect for our hospital staff.”
According to Berden, the vast majority of the 30,000 waiting people from Brabant are waiting for an orthopedic procedure. For example, knee or hip surgery. Not life threatening if delayed. “But very annoying. Often they cannot do their job or they take medication for the pain.”
This is not only difficult for the patients themselves, but also for the hospital staff, says Berden. He notes an increasing frustration among people waiting, who let their emotions go to the staff.
“There could be a little more respect for our hospital staff. Sometimes people get sad or react disappointed. It is very understandable that they want to know where they are on the waiting list. For example, if a treatment has already been postponed three times. But sometimes people also get very angry. Our employees do what is in their power and have not invented or created corona. Understanding for this is sometimes only limited.”