Belgian hospitals under pressure due to rising admissions and staff shortages

Hospitals in Belgium remain under pressure due to the increase in the number of flu and COVID-19 patients and the continuing staff shortages. In many places, urgent care has to be postponed again, reported Zorgnet-Icuro on Friday. 

The healthcare umbrella organisation points out that the number of hospital admissions due to and with COVID-19 is rising again. Almost 3,000 people infected with the coronavirus are in a regular hospital bed. In the intensive care units the number remains relatively limited to 172. 

Moreover, the healthcare sector has been struggling with a huge staff shortage all winter. At least 10 per cent of hospital staff have been absent since early January, according to Zorgnet-Icuro. Some places reached a peak of up to 20 percent sick leave. "The intensity of the absenteeism and especially the long duration make it very difficult," says Margot Cloet, delegate director at Zorgnet-Icuro. "Constantly having to miss more than one in ten people makes it very complicated to get the shifts done."

The shortage of staff also results in a decrease in the number of available beds. By 30 March, 175 intensive and 2,504 regular beds had been closed in Belgian hospitals. More and more hospitals are forced to postpone and reschedule planned interventions and treatments, "while they were still busy catching up after waves four and five".

A quarter of the residential care centres that are affiliated with Zorgnet-Icuro also report staff shortages of more than 10 percent.

© BELGA PHOTO DIRK WAEM - Illustration picture shows health care staff at the recovery unit of the Imelda hospital in Bonheiden, Wednesday 08 December 2021.