Today in Denmark: A roundup of the latest news on Tuesday
High prices are keeping Danes away from the dentist, coronavirus cases in nursing homes on the rise and other news from Denmark on Tuesday.
Danes are postponing going to the dentist due to high prices
Seven out of ten dentists think more patients are cancelling or postponing their dental appointments this year compared to last year, according to a new Dental Association survey.
A total of 622 dental clinics took part in the survey.
Many people are cancelling their appointment for regular dental check-ups or major treatments at the dentist, and around 90 percent of dentists believe it is due to high prices and heating bills.
Tina Pauli from Amager has two teeth that are about to break, but she has had to cancel her dentist appointment in November this year because she cannot afford it.
"It costs a lot of money, and after everything has gone up in price, especially food and electricity, I have put it off indefinitely," she told DR.
Coronavirus infection on the rise in nursing homes
The increasing number of coronavirus cases in nursing homes around the country worries the Alzheimer's Association, which is now calling for the administration of the fifth vaccine dose.
"The elderly in nursing homes are vulnerable, and therefore you should start considering and planning to offer them another vaccine dose against Covid infection," Nis Peter Nissen, director of the Alzheimer's Association, told the newspaper Berlingske.
Among other things, he pointed out that some time has now passed since the elderly in the nursing homes received their fourth injection.
He also believes Denmark was too late with the fourth dose (administered in September).
In mid-November, there were 155 confirmed coronavirus cases a week in nursing homes, according to the State Serum Institute.
Long waiting times at the emergency room
With the general practitioners closed over the Christmas holidays, there has been extra pressure on the medical staff in the emergency room in several places in the country.
The Region of Southern Denmark and the Capital Region of Denmark have both reported high levels of demand.
The Region of Southern Denmark was so busy on Monday that it warned users via Facebook that they should expect issues getting through to the emergency room.
At one point in time, there were more than 100 people in the telephone queue, DR reported.
While emergency rooms are usually busy over Christmas, this year was particularly demanding. Due to the long waiting time at the medical phone line, the call centre in the Region of Southern Denmark experienced an unusually high number of 112 calls on Monday morning, according to Gitte Jørgensen.
In response, the region announced on Facebook that 112 should only be used in life-threatening situations.
In the Capital Region, where the emergency telephone number 1813 is used to contact emergency services, there has also been high demand over the Christmas holidays.
Yesterday, several citizens were thrown off the line because all the phones were busy, and there "couldn't be any more people in line".
In the busiest periods, the waiting time was up to two and a half hours, head of the department for the 1813 emergency telephone number, Berit Juhl, said.
New government inspired by Dutch penal system
The Danish prisons are full, and the government now wants to take a close look at the Dutch model, where more people are sentenced to an alternative prison sentence.
The government plans to "investigate" and "evaluate experiences with resocialisation and alternative forms of punishment from comparable countries, including the Netherlands".
In 10-15 years, the Netherlands has succeeded in reducing the number of inmates so significantly that several prisons have been closed.
The country did so by letting more convicts serve their sentences through, for example, community service, professor emeritus and researcher in crime and punishment at Tilburg University in the Netherlands Jan van Dijk to Ritzau stated.
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Danes are postponing going to the dentist due to high prices
Seven out of ten dentists think more patients are cancelling or postponing their dental appointments this year compared to last year, according to a new Dental Association survey.
A total of 622 dental clinics took part in the survey.
Many people are cancelling their appointment for regular dental check-ups or major treatments at the dentist, and around 90 percent of dentists believe it is due to high prices and heating bills.
Tina Pauli from Amager has two teeth that are about to break, but she has had to cancel her dentist appointment in November this year because she cannot afford it.
"It costs a lot of money, and after everything has gone up in price, especially food and electricity, I have put it off indefinitely," she told DR.
Coronavirus infection on the rise in nursing homes
The increasing number of coronavirus cases in nursing homes around the country worries the Alzheimer's Association, which is now calling for the administration of the fifth vaccine dose.
"The elderly in nursing homes are vulnerable, and therefore you should start considering and planning to offer them another vaccine dose against Covid infection," Nis Peter Nissen, director of the Alzheimer's Association, told the newspaper Berlingske.
Among other things, he pointed out that some time has now passed since the elderly in the nursing homes received their fourth injection.
He also believes Denmark was too late with the fourth dose (administered in September).
In mid-November, there were 155 confirmed coronavirus cases a week in nursing homes, according to the State Serum Institute.
Long waiting times at the emergency room
With the general practitioners closed over the Christmas holidays, there has been extra pressure on the medical staff in the emergency room in several places in the country.
The Region of Southern Denmark and the Capital Region of Denmark have both reported high levels of demand.
The Region of Southern Denmark was so busy on Monday that it warned users via Facebook that they should expect issues getting through to the emergency room.
At one point in time, there were more than 100 people in the telephone queue, DR reported.
While emergency rooms are usually busy over Christmas, this year was particularly demanding. Due to the long waiting time at the medical phone line, the call centre in the Region of Southern Denmark experienced an unusually high number of 112 calls on Monday morning, according to Gitte Jørgensen.
In response, the region announced on Facebook that 112 should only be used in life-threatening situations.
In the Capital Region, where the emergency telephone number 1813 is used to contact emergency services, there has also been high demand over the Christmas holidays.
Yesterday, several citizens were thrown off the line because all the phones were busy, and there "couldn't be any more people in line".
In the busiest periods, the waiting time was up to two and a half hours, head of the department for the 1813 emergency telephone number, Berit Juhl, said.
New government inspired by Dutch penal system
The Danish prisons are full, and the government now wants to take a close look at the Dutch model, where more people are sentenced to an alternative prison sentence.
The government plans to "investigate" and "evaluate experiences with resocialisation and alternative forms of punishment from comparable countries, including the Netherlands".
In 10-15 years, the Netherlands has succeeded in reducing the number of inmates so significantly that several prisons have been closed.
The country did so by letting more convicts serve their sentences through, for example, community service, professor emeritus and researcher in crime and punishment at Tilburg University in the Netherlands Jan van Dijk to Ritzau stated.
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