Health personnel's perceptions of pressure on capacity in the specialist health services.

BACKGROUND

Increasing the utilisation of unused capacity in hospitals is a health policy goal, but there is concern that little unused capacity remains. The objective of the study was to examine how healthcare personnel experience and deal with pressure on capacity in the somatic specialist health services.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

In this qualitative study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with unit heads and doctors and nurses involved in discharging patients in two Norwegian hospital trusts. Nine interviews (both individual and group) with altogether 19 informants were carried out in the period October 2017-February 2018. The interviews were analysed using systematic text condensation.

RESULTS

Pressure on hospital capacity was described as continual pressure to treat more patients. The informants used the term 'undercapacity': a situation in which increased demands without sufficient resources were detrimental to something or someone. Elderly patients who had completed their treatment and were waiting for the provision of municipal services were regarded as particularly vulnerable, since they were often overrepresented among the patients moved between departments and wards in order to free up capacity when beds were urgently needed. The hospital staff felt they had little influence on the type of municipal services the patients were offered following discharge.

INTERPRETATION

The informants stated that their daily work was negatively affected by undercapacity. Health professionals' perceptions of pressure on hospital capacity constitute vital knowledge in policy formation in the field.