The shortcomings in the emergency department are extensive and affect all care and treatment – from the initial assessment prioritization and medical assessment to the continued medical care and nursing, according to IVo’s new assessment. After new inspections, Ivo states that the situation has deteriorated since his last inspection.
Patients do not have their medical and nursing needs met.
Ivo has reviewed 16 deviations with patient records that together show serious patient safety risks. A patient with a suspected blood clot in the lung died after an eight-hour wait for care. Another patient with signs of blood poisoning had to wait for over 40 hours in the emergency room before receiving help – without keeping records of which drugs the patient had received.
And on Tuesday, Ivo made a new decision on an injunction against Akademiska due to danger to patient safety. According to the authority, the hospital has not done enough to plan and organize the activities based on the needs for available care places. According to Ivo, there are 612 care places in inpatient care, which must therefore be staffed and equipped to be able to take care of patients in a safe way. To reach that level, it is necessary for the hospital to increase the number by 30 care places.
Akademiska has until 15 September to meet the requirement, otherwise a fine of 20 million is threatened.
The situation is not new. As early as 2017, Ivo was able to identify shortcomings in the care of patients in the emergency department who were waiting at the care site. Also in 2020 and 2021, Ivo assessed that the emergency room had continued serious deficiencies which, according to the decision, posed a danger to patient safety.
Mikael Köhler, director of health and medical care in the Uppsala Region, does not agree that there has been a deterioration.
– It must stand for Ivo. We believe that this is the same case as before when we had the same requirements for 30 new care places. We did everything to fulfill that and work for a better staffing and flow, says Köhler.
But Ivo has in turn had to back down from his claims against Akademiska after a decision in the Court of Appeal in March. The basis for the decision from the authority that came on Tuesday is more detailed, and it is welcomed by the director of health and medical care.
– The good thing this time is that they highlight different deviations. I think it is very important that we look at each individual deviation and learn from them. Then we get concrete things to decide on. It will be a different strength in it both internally and externally, says Mikael Köhler.
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