Regionshospitalet Silkeborg closes medical ward as budget cuts impact patient care in Denmark

The overnight hospital stay at Regionshospitalet Silkeborg has been discontinued as of today, with the closure of the medical ward, a part of a significant budget cut plan adopted by the Region Midtjylland council last autumn. Starting Monday, all patient beds will be relocated to Regionshospitalet Viborg, necessitating the transfer of both patients and staff to the new facility. However, the changes have not been warmly welcomed by those affected.

Karna Virenfeldt, a resident of Silkeborg and a heart patient, expressed her frustration over the increased travel time to Viborg. She is already traveling to Gødstrup Hospital for lung cancer treatment and will now rely on her daughter for rides to the further location, which adds to her concerns about her daughter’s work commitments.

While many patients in Silkeborg are accustomed to seeking emergency care in Viborg after 5 PM, the staff situation is more challenging. Only a small number of the 35 nurses from the Silkeborg ward have agreed to move to Viborg. According to ward nursing manager Anna Lindhardtsen, the decision not to relocate is largely due to the logistical burden on younger nurses who prefer to stay closer to home or work in home care or Gødstrup Hospital.

The personnel shortage means that a significant medical ward in Viborg will not open as planned. In the meantime, patients will be accommodated wherever there is capacity. Hospital director Brian Brøndum Møller hopes for more applications to fill the roles.

Lindhardtsen herself has opted to remain at Regionshospitalet Silkeborg, now in the cardiology department, anticipating a challenging transition as she navigates through a vacant ward. Despite these operational changes, Region Midtjylland assures that activities at Silkeborg Hospital will continue, although the Center for Planned Surgery will now be open only five days a week instead of seven.