STOCKHOLM, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Sweden's emergency hospitals are feeling the strain from the influx of patients, who in some cases begin their treatment on beds in hallways and are given pot lids to bang on should they need assistance, Swedish Television (SVT) reported on Monday.
"We have seen narrow and tightening margins for many years but now it has reached a level that is so low that a new threshold has been crossed," Sofia Wallstrom, director general of the Swedish Health and Social Care Inspectorate (IVO), told SVT.
So far this year, the inspectorate has audited 27 emergency hospitals around the country and all the 21 cases that have been concluded ended with the hospital being criticized, SVT reported.
The vast majority of the cases stem from a lack of nurses, which has resulted in patients being housed in corridors or other wards than they should be in due to an insufficient number of beds.
In some cases, staff has darkened the hallways at night by placing black bin bags over the light fixtures to allow patients some rest, while other patients have been given pot lids to bang on instead of emergency buttons, SVT found after scrutinizing the inspectorate's rulings.
Staff shortages are common in Sweden's hospitals and SVT reported that 18 out of 26 nurses from the same ward in one of the hospitals criticized by the inspectorate resigned in protest against the working conditions. ■
