- The summer has been worse than it has ever been before.
There have been many double shifts and many have had to give up their holidays.
And that means that almost all midwives in our county have not been able to recover, says Erika Häggblad, chairman of the Midwifery Association Västerbotten.
Many midwives have also been given three weeks' holiday instead of four this summer.
And according to Erika Häggblad, it is also difficult to take out the saved holiday week later in the year because the staffing is thin.
The director of health and medical care, Brita Winsa, agrees that the summer has been strenuous for the staff.
- This is not how we want it for those who work with us.
We want to give our staff four weeks' holiday, that is our ambition.
Brita Winsa also believes that the corona pandemic has also affected the work situation.
- It has exhausted everyone extra much, it was very tired staff who went into the summer, she says.
Covid mode since 2017
But the Midwives' Association believes that the staffing situation was strained even before the pandemic came.
- We have almost summer staffing all year round now and it's really, really bad.
There is a lot of talk about covid staff having had a hard time in recent years, but we have had covid mode with us since 2017.
- To go to work and not know when to go home, it is clear that the whole family will suffer.
And that is one of the reasons why our working environment has deteriorated radically.
If you do not know what hours you work, it is clear that you are starting to think about whether to continue in this profession.
The region will make an evaluation of the summer activities shortly.
- We knew when we went into the summer that we had a tough staffing situation.
We will continue to work on this issue, try to ensure that midwives are trained and ensure that we have a good working environment so that you want to continue working.
The salary issue is also included.
In addition, we take in the rental staff that we get, says Brita Winsa.