“Many healthcare professionals are also ill in the rest of the healthcare chain, such as with general practitioners and in home care. As a result, absenteeism due to illness remains the biggest challenge for healthcare at the moment,” according to the NZa.
The operating capacity of hospitals has decreased slightly, partly due to the high number of sick healthcare workers. Last week there were 13 percent fewer operating rooms in use than usual. This week it’s 15 percent.
According to the NZa, 68 of the 73 hospitals can provide so-called critically plannable care such as cancer treatments within the standard of six weeks. This number is the same as last week. Plannable care, such as knee and hip operations, is still less in many hospitals. Last week, eighteen hospitals indicated that they would provide full planable care again. This week there are twenty. The other hospitals provide some of this care.