- In 26 of the 45 emergency hospitals that are included in a survey that Ekot has done, it is stated that all care staff can count on four consecutive weeks of holiday this summer.
- Gävle Hospital is one of them, but the intensive care nurse Anna Wimalm is skeptical.
- “Considering that we did not get our full holiday last summer and now considering what the pandemic looks like, there is a great deal of concern,” she says.
Last summer, many healthcare employees had their statutory holiday dismantled or postponed due to the pandemic and several employees tell Ekot that they are now worried that the same thing will happen this summer.
Personnel managers for many of the country’s emergency hospitals are, however, optimistic. In a survey that Ekot directed to 61 emergency hospitals in the country and to which 45 responded, 26 hospitals state that all care staff who want and are entitled to it will, in all probability, be able to get 4 weeks of continuous holiday sometime during June, July and August this year. That is, during the statutory holiday months.
The staff at the emergency hospitals in Norrbotten belong to those who can expect a positive message.
–We have to some extent turned the perspective. We should not have everything ready with how to solve the staffing with the help of hired staff or summer benefits and other things that we have, but we assume that we first grant leave. Then we can only adapt to the conditions we have, but the holiday is a necessity as many have worked hard for a long time, says Jan Sundqvist, acting HR manager Luleå / Boden.
In Ekot’s survey, which was answered between weeks 11 and 13, no hospital states that employees will not be able to have a continuous holiday between June and August this year, however, several are hesitant and state that the planning is not complete.
In Västernorrland The starting point is that everyone who wants to should have a continuous summer holiday – but so far it has not been possible to give any clear information and the challenges are many, says the region’s health and medical care director Kurt Pettersson.
–We have a vaccination problem where we try to vaccinate as many as possible during this coming period and it coincides with summer holidays, in addition we have a heavily burdened staff who are tired and we also have a lot of sick leave problems. So many of these factors work together this summer and that makes it extra worrying, of course, says Kurt Pettersson.
Hedda Berglund
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Jan Andersson
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