Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Hospitals feel a shortage of staff due to holiday traffic jams

Northeast hospital workers have had to cut back during the height of the pandemic.

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Hospitals feel a shortage of staff due to holiday traffic jams

Northeast hospital workers have had to cut back during the height of the pandemic. The large number of vacation days not taken is now an increasing problem for the clinics.

Schwerin (dpa / mv) - In addition to the direct consequences of the pandemic, the hospitals in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are plagued by a high number of open vacation days among employees. In the course of the high number of corona infections in the state, especially until the end of March, and the resulting burden on the clinics, the staff hardly took any vacation, explained Uwe Borchmann, Managing Director of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomeranian Hospital Society. This belly of excess days is now difficult to reduce by the end of the year and is leading to a bottleneck.

At the moment - as is usual - many employees wanted to take time off, with a view to the staffing of the wards, this is not always possible, according to the hospital company. The still unusually high level of sick leave exacerbates the situation, with Borchmann saying that the number of corona diseases among medical and nursing staff is at a comparable level compared to other professional groups.