Patients overflow at Landspítalinn due to nursing home shortages in Iceland

Nearly 100 patients are currently lying in the hallways of Landspítalinn, Iceland’s largest hospital, due to a lack of space. Among them, 94 patients cannot be discharged because they require admission to nursing homes, which are in short supply. The hospital has been dealing with this critical situation for the past three weeks.

“Often, there are now 45 patients in the emergency department who should be in our acute care units but cannot access them because of space constraints. In our acute care units, there are 49 patients in the hallways,” stated Ólafur Skúlason, the hospital’s nursing director. This indicates that there are 94 patients in locations not suited to their care needs.

Since April, the hospital has implemented three alert levels to describe the current state of operations. “We have been on level three for almost three weeks, adding 55 extra beds beyond what our staffing can usually manage.” When asked if the hospital had been under such strain for this long before, he replied, “No, not this long.”

A significant factor contributing to this issue is the aging population. Currently, 87 elderly patients awaiting care have the necessary assessments indicating they should be in nursing homes, a situation that adds pressure to the system. Projections indicate that this number could swell to 200, exacerbating the challenges faced by Landspítalinn.

Skúlason emphasized the urgency of addressing nursing care needs for the aging population, stating, “We must consider as a society how we will provide nursing services for this group. The most urgent task is to increase available nursing home capacity across the country.”