Crisis in the emergency room and MIMA at the Kullbergska hospital in Katrineholm

There is a staffing crisis at the emergency department in Katrineholm – which leads to the regular staff being forced to cover up.

At the same time, the managers have relinquished responsibility for the work environment.

– We cannot clone ourselves, says nurse Sara Karlsson Stjärnholm.

The situation at the emergency department and the medical intermediate care department MIMA at Kullbergska hospital in Katrineholm is strained.

Something that led to the unit managers at the emergency room on Thursday relinquishing responsibility for the work environment for the employees. This as at least 25 shifts a week, starting after the weekend, will miss a number of nurses and assistant nurses.

The reason is that since October 2023 there has been a hiring freeze in the Sörmland region due to a “strained economic situation”.

Forced to cover up

Instead, the existing staff now need to cover the gaps in the schedule – in addition to their regular working hours.

Something that threatens both the working situation for the employees but also patient safety in the long run, says nurse and care pilot Sara Karlsson Stjärnholm.

– We feel very worried and do not know what will happen in the future. Our managers are our pillars and we know they are doing their best and we support their decisions, but as it stands right now, it will only get worse and worse.

She states that the most acute shortage is of assistant nurses, and that there does not seem to be any solution in the near term. Thus, according to her, you will now have to prioritize away things like “basic care”, which means that it will take longer to get coffee, help to the toilet or to have body parts plastered.

– We already have long waiting times and when you have to prioritize away such an important professional category as assistant nurses, who are so important to our team, in the long run it becomes dangerous both for the patient but also for the employee and colleagues.

“Impossible Equation”

At the moment, there are at least four full-time positions for assistant nurses. But at the staffing unit, where you can apply for an exemption from the employment freeze, there are currently no assistant nurses, according to Sara Karlsson Stjärnholm.

She also believes that in addition to the positions, there are also vacancies for all other forms of absence in the form of studies, education, sick leave, VAB and parental leave.

This means that the so-called 24-hour rest for the regular staff is threatened, says Sara Karlsson Stjärnholm, but the weekends are also becoming more fragile.

– The situation we are facing now is similar to the one we have in the summer when everyone has to work at least 2-3 more shifts on an already 100 percent schedule to make it work. When you work with sick people, you want to be able to provide the right care to the right person at the right time. But it’s not much fun for my colleagues who are out on the floor trying to do their best.

– Last week we had 36 patients in one day in 16 rooms. It becomes an impossible equation.

Protection officer: Alarmed since December

Also Elin Bäckman, safety representative and union representative for Kommunal, testifies that the situation for the employees is tough and says that they have been flagging since December.

– My view is that we are in a very bad situation when it comes to staffing, and that many will have to work a lot of overtime. But even with that, we won’t be able to cover all the vacancies.
She further says that she understands that the managers abdicated responsibility for the work environment.

– They feel that they cannot take responsibility for the work environment and I, as a safety representative, am worried about how my colleagues will feel in the future and how they will cope with this.

The director: Economic reality to deal with

Magnus Johansson is director of health and medical care in the region.

He writes in an email to Aftonbladet that he takes the staffing situation seriously and that they are working to find solutions both in the short and long term.

“We have an economic reality to deal with and try in several ways to protect both the situation of our employees and at the same time take responsibility for our patients. However, I know that the situation is stressful for the employees in several of our operations, but we are a large organization and try to find solutions, among other things, through collaborations in order to solve our mission to take care of all our patients together”.

“We are in the middle of a process of change and must find new ways to carry out our mission”.

Furthermore, Magnus Johansson writes that he understands that there is concern among the employees and that “everything is being done to solve this in the best way possible”.

“We are working on solving the unmanned passports that have arisen right now”.

He writes that the employer continues to have responsibility for the work environment, but that “it is taken seriously that the unit managers have relinquished their delegated responsibility for the work environment”.

The region’s response: We have dialogue

“We have a dialogue with them about how we can give them support so they feel secure in their important role”.

Even regional councilor Lars Lundqvist (KD) states that the situation is tough right now.

– We are doing work within the region where we look over the entire staffing and try to move employees where needed. But it has made it tough for the staff as there has been a lot of pressure on the emergency department and a number of employees have started studying, which has led to a sharp reduction in the number of assistant nurses.

He believes that the work is ongoing but is still in its infancy. From a political point of view, they are now trying to support the business, but he also states that it is a balancing act.

– It is important for the business to function, while at the same time we have to look at the big picture. The overall operation must be tightened and adapted to the economic situation we are in. As it is now, we have more employees than our economy supports.