RC News
Health care employees fear the worst as area hospitals continue to carry out layoffs to close their budget deficits
Hospital employees in the Capital Health Region are being let go by the hundreds due to huge deficits in the facilities’ respective budgets, and the firing rounds have begun again.
Last week the city’s Rigshospital reported it would be laying off 109 employees.
On Monday, Frederiksberg Hospital laid off workers for the second time in as many months, letting 39 employees go. In mid-January, the hospital laid off 155 employees in an effort to make a dent in its 200 million kroner budget deficit.
Hillerød Hospital announced today it will also begin layoffs to help start digging its way out of an 80 million kroner deficit. Although only seven positions were definitively to be cut as of today, many more are expected to be eliminated within the next month.
Hvidovre Hospital, meanwhile, is expected to continue its firing plans this week. The hospital has plans to let up to 225 employees go in all, and around 60 will likely get the axe before Friday.
That there would be a wave of hospital firings is not news to the employees, however, as several facilities had indicated early last month that significant cuts would be imminent.
The comprehensive hospital layoffs also include those at Herlev Hospital, where 150 employees were let go last month.
Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen has threatened to dismantle the regional system – which manages the country’s hospitals – as a result of their continuing budget problems.
The government believes it gives more than enough money to the regions, while opposition parties say more state funding is needed to ensure hospitals’ operations.
The Copenhagem Post
