One of seven employees at Södra Älvsborg Hospital (Säs) in Borås will receive a shorter, divided or moved holiday this summer. That message was received by hospital staff last week and the reason for the late order is that the future is difficult to predict during the current coronary pandemic.

- The majority of their holidays are continuous during the summer. If we had the opportunity, we would have spent all the holidays we can, but we must monitor patient safety and make sure that the working environment is good, ”says Joakim Höstner, operations manager for the Orthopedic Clinic at Säs.

"Nightmares"

Lise-Lotte Lindblom at Kommunal thinks that the information they have received for holiday planning is substandard.

- We do not think this will end in September, we must invest in endurance. The staff at the intensive care unit have nightmares and other stress symptoms, she says.

At Västra Götaland's medical association on Säs you understand why the message about the holiday came so late. Vice President Peter Geiger says he is unsure if he will have any holidays at all this year, as he is a chief physician at the anesthesia clinic and works with covid-19 patients.

- We are a limited number of people who take care of these seriously ill people, it is not possible to expand that population anyway, it is very complicated care, says Peter Geiger.

Continue following guidelines

Both Joakim Höstner and Peter Geiger stress that the pandemic is not over and that it is important to follow the authorities' guidelines on, for example, physical distance.

- When I look around for outdoor seating, I think: "Here's my vacation." It's that simple, says Peter Geiger.