Through statistics from the Swedish Intensive Care Register, Sten Walther, chief physician at the US in Linköping, can show that the risk of dying if one patient has to be moved from one intensive care unit to another, increases by 24 percent, compared to a patient being moved for medical reasons.

In absolute terms, this means that between 30 to 50 people in Sweden die annually, because they are moved to another department.

Moving of patients increasingly common

In addition, moving intensive care patients due to lack of resources is becoming more common. It shows a survey done by the magazine Hospital Doctor.

In 2010, severely ill patients were moved 335 times in Sweden due to lack of space. In 2018, that figure more than doubled, 872 patients.

Intermediate sites part of solution

Martin Magnusson, former director of care in Östergötland with responsibility for patient safety, believes that one way to reduce the risks is to create an intermediate between intensive care sites and ordinary care sites - so-called intermediate places.

"All patients who are in intensive care may not need to be in the intensive care unit, but they need to be in the care department that has higher care services than a regular care unit, so I think that could be a good relief for the intensive care and then get a better care flow," he says. .

Sten Walther also has thoughts on intermediate sites as part of the solution, when healthcare is now able to use the results of the study.