As SVT reported earlier, there is an acute shortage of healthcare staff.

Above all, there is a lack of nurses.

Something that, among other things, affects the orthopedic department.

- It has had major consequences in the form that we have not been able to treat patients who are waiting for surgery, says Kristian Stjerna who is operations manager in orthopedics.

Care injury investigations carried out

The orthopedist is an important cog in reducing the queues for care.

Here, for example, hip surgery is performed.

But the lack of staff means that patients are constantly in a pinch.

This is shown not least by the healthcare injury investigations that the orthopedist has carried out in the past year.

- We have seen that patients who wait, they have to wait too long.

They suffer from so-called medical injuries, says Kristian Stjerna and continues: 

- This means in practice that we are not able to live up to the Patient Safety Act as it is right now.

That is, we can not provide patient-safe care due to the long waiting times.

80 percent suffered a medical injury

Last summer, for example, the orthopedist reviewed the deviations they had received.

And out of a total of 35 cases, 28 had suffered some form of medical injury.

- There have been temporary problems such as nerve damage and pain that required morphine, for example, says Kristian Stjerna.

None of the 28 patients had suffered a serious medical injury, ie it had caused permanent damage.

At the same time, Kristian Stjerna points out that it has still been a suffering for the individual patient.

- We have many examples where patients become dependent on sick leave or even have difficulty walking due to the long waiting time.