Patients are increasingly reporting planned interventions that fail or are repeatedly postponed. Staff shortage is just one reason for this. The case of a woman from Innsbruck shows the misery and gaps in the system that patients ultimately have to pay for.
Mrs. Klausner from Innsbruck is desperate, disappointed, angry. The Innsbruck resident is suffering from a development that many patients are now familiar with: the postponement of planned operations because of a shortage of staff in hospitals.
The patient hoped the procedure would take less than 30 minutes
Ms. Klausner was called to the clinic on March 20. She suffers from a particularly distressing carpal tunnel syndrome caused by a narrowing of the median nerve. After months of pain, surgery should finally bring relief. A short procedure, which according to the patient should take less than 30 minutes.
Waited in vain for two days in the clinic and starved
But it didn’t come to that. Mrs. Klausner describes what she experienced while, as prescribed, waiting in the room all day on an empty stomach – ie without eating anything – until it was finally her turn. In the evening the disappointment: no surgery today. The next day, the patient was assured that this time it would work. Another day of anxious anticipation passed. In the evening another rejection. “The doctor’s advice was: you can take painkillers,” the Tyrolean describes the moment when the camel’s back broke. The patient left the clinic – with pain and disappointment with a system whose misdevelopment has to be paid for by patients and in which high costs are incurred without performance.
The Innsbruck Clinic managers regret the cancellations
The clinic regrets the cancellation of the surgery. With such a short procedure, it is understandably incomprehensible to patients, they say. An unusually large number of calamities would have led to this. In general, clinic spokesman Johannes Schwamberger confirms that planned procedures in various disciplines are repeatedly postponed.
A lack of staff is only one reason for the misery
Schwamberger gives three reasons for the misery: “The tense situation among the staff, the high number of calamities and many patients who stay with us longer than necessary because they cannot get a place in care or the family cannot handle the care.” there are currently 120 nursing cases for which the hospital is no longer responsible – some for up to eight months. The shortage of nurses is also putting hospitals in distress.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
