Hospital groups Spital STS AG and Spitäler fmi have taken measures to counter overload.

There are challenging weeks ahead and the hospital groups operating in the Berner Oberland are forced to take drastic measures to cope with the situation and avoid an overload of individual sections (especially in the intensive care units). Spital STS AG and Spitäler fmi AG again have to postpone scheduled operations. Urgent emergency operations and admissions of urgent cases are still possible.

Although elective operations were already reduced at an early stage, the two hospital groups are again forced to postpone non-urgent elective operations due to the current workload, the increasing number of patients requiring intensive care and the management of additional tasks due to the pandemic, in particular the operation of testing facilities and the establishment of vaccination centres.

Operating theatres for urgent and emergency surgeries remain in operation. With this decision, staff can be shifted internally to those departments that are particularly affected by the coronavirus pandemic (intensive care units, Covid-19 wards, emergency centres). With this measure the two hospital groups additionally ensure that the admission of patients who have had accidents or are seriously ill is guaranteed during this challenging period.

As a result, some interventions are postponed. Even orthopaedic operations (e.g. artificial hip joint) that were already cancelled a few weeks ago face further postponement. Patients affected by this are not in life-threatening situations, but they are still in pain. In addition, there is uncertainty about when an operation can be performed. This situation is very stressful for the patients and their relatives.

The CEOs and the chief physicians of the two Oberland hospital groups hope that the situation will improve quickly and that the important operations and interventions can be performed as soon as possible. The urgency of a postponed intervention is constantly reviewed and patients can and should contact the hospitals at any time if problems arise.

The two hospital groups also point out that if the Covid-19 situation worsens over the festive season and there are many additional winter sports accidents, there is a risk that all beds will be occupied and, in the worst case, patients would have to be transferred to other hospitals after stabilisation.

BASED ON AVS