The pressure on hospital staff in the region is still high.
But the hospitals don’t have to withdraw leave to maintain the level of care during the May holidays. They have asked their staff to continue working voluntarily wherever possible.
At St. Anna Hospital and Catharina Hospital, they see that there’s sufficient enthusiasm for this. The Maxima Medical Centre (MMC) has also announced that, if necessary, they will ask staff to voluntarily not take leave. Therefore, the pressure in the hospitals is still as high as ever.
Earlier this week, there are 96 COVID-19 patients, in total, in the hospitals in the region. Of these, 34 are in intensive care. In the MM, there are 36 people with corona, 12 of whom are in the ICU. In St. Anna Hospital, there are 16 patients, a quarter of whom are in ICU.
Younger patients
Most of the patients – 44 – are in Catharina Hospital. Almost half of them need intensive care. Eighteen people are in the ICU. It is noteworthy that the average age in the IC is decreasing, says a hospital spokesperson. “Mainly people in their 50s and 60s are being admitted, whereas previously it was mainly people over 70”.
A spokesperson for Catharina Hospital has stated that the pressure on care staff is still immense. “We, therefore, hope that we can start vaccinating again as soon as possible because not all healthcare staff have been vaccinated yet. However, we have given all our staff over 60 the opportunity to be vaccinated”.
Call for vaccination
On Monday, many healthcare institutions from the region called on the national government to resume vaccinating with the AstraZeneca and Janssen vaccines as soon as possible. Catharina Hospital and MMC had not joined in.
Catharina Hospital does understand the position that the care institutions have taken. “We also want to start vaccinating again as soon as possible; we are ready for it”, the spokesperson says. “As soon as vaccines enter the hospital again, we’ll get started”, the spokesperson concludes.
Source: www.studio040.nl
Translated by: Bob
