Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Thursday
Tight budgeting plan for mental health services in Copenhagen, nine cases of TBE from ticks and harsh weather destroys art exhibition about harsh weather. Here’s your news roundup from Denmark on Thursday.
Mental health services in Copenhagen to scrap vacant positions
The Greater Copenhagen regional health authority will not fill a number of vacant positions as part of a ‘reprioritisation’ of its budget for 2024.
“We have strived to protect psychiatry as well as we can. But I want to stress that this is a tight budget year and we are waiting with anticipation for the government’s ten-year plan [for investment in mental health services, ed.] to be constructed and presented,” the chairperson of the health authority, Lars Gaardhøj, said to news wire Ritzau.
In its plan for the reprioritisation of its budget, the Region says it does not expect to let any existing medical staff go, but will not fill a number of vacant positions.
It states that it therefore does not expect treatment capacity to be reduced but that “it cannot be ruled out that the quality of patient care could be affected”.
“It’s always regrettable to make cuts to mental health services. I wish there was more money because mental health services must be raised up,” Gaardhøj said.
Vocabulary: omprioritering – reprioritisation
Nine people have caught TBE from tick so far this year
Nine people have caught tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) from tick bites in Denmark so far this year, the infectious disease control agency State Serum Institute (SSI) told broadcaster TV2.
According to TV2’s information, some of the infections occurred in areas known to be risk zones for ticks carrying TBE, but others may have been in “potential new risk zones”.
Two of the nine infected people were bitten on Baltic Sea island Bornholm, where the number of TBE virus-carrying ticks has increased over several decades, the broadcaster writes.
TBE virus is very rare in Denmark. Tick bites do not usually cause serious illness but should nevertheless be taken seriously due to the low risk of TBE as well as Lyme disease.
Vocabulary: flåter – ticks
READ ALSO:
- What you need to know about ticks in Denmark and how to avoid them
- Danish project aims to map out ticks and their bites
Weather destroys art installation on extreme weather
An art installation about the weather was near-flattened during windy weather conditions yesterday, in an unfortunately ironic display of nature’s force.
The installation, “Wadden Tide” opened on August 31st on the beach at Blåvand in northwest Jutland, and the art works had been intended to stay on in place throughout September.
The works by eight different artists were all about the strength of nature and sand as a force and material that can change the landscape on the Danish west coast, which is no stranger to heavy winds and harsh weather.
They were designed to withstand storms, but Wednesday’s weather was too much for most of the art works as water rose up the beach and flattened them, Varde Municipality said in a statement.
“The exhibition was about the harsh weather on the west coast, which is out of our control. That the works end up being destroyed by a storm flood is evidence of precisely this,” the local council’s head of culture and leisure Karsten Rimmer told DR.
Vocabulary: ødelagt – destroyed
Central bank urges political caution over inflation
The Nationalbank, Denmark’s central bank, says that inflation will continue this year and next and that politicians should therefore take a cautious approach to spending.
The central bank published its latest forecast for the Danish economy on Wednesday.
In the prognosis, the Nationalbank says that inflation will be at around 3.8 percent this year and 3 percent next year. Wage increases are cited as a primary factor.
The bank urged politicians to tread carefully with decisions that can impact the economy.
“We are still not where we need to be in relation to securing low and stable inflation in Denmark,” Nationalbank director Christian Kettel Thomsen said in a statement.
Vocabulary: en prognose – a prognosis/forecast
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Mental health services in Copenhagen to scrap vacant positions
The Greater Copenhagen regional health authority will not fill a number of vacant positions as part of a ‘reprioritisation’ of its budget for 2024.
“We have strived to protect psychiatry as well as we can. But I want to stress that this is a tight budget year and we are waiting with anticipation for the government’s ten-year plan [for investment in mental health services, ed.] to be constructed and presented,” the chairperson of the health authority, Lars Gaardhøj, said to news wire Ritzau.
In its plan for the reprioritisation of its budget, the Region says it does not expect to let any existing medical staff go, but will not fill a number of vacant positions.
It states that it therefore does not expect treatment capacity to be reduced but that “it cannot be ruled out that the quality of patient care could be affected”.
“It’s always regrettable to make cuts to mental health services. I wish there was more money because mental health services must be raised up,” Gaardhøj said.
Vocabulary: omprioritering – reprioritisation
Nine people have caught TBE from tick so far this year
Nine people have caught tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) from tick bites in Denmark so far this year, the infectious disease control agency State Serum Institute (SSI) told broadcaster TV2.
According to TV2’s information, some of the infections occurred in areas known to be risk zones for ticks carrying TBE, but others may have been in “potential new risk zones”.
Two of the nine infected people were bitten on Baltic Sea island Bornholm, where the number of TBE virus-carrying ticks has increased over several decades, the broadcaster writes.
TBE virus is very rare in Denmark. Tick bites do not usually cause serious illness but should nevertheless be taken seriously due to the low risk of TBE as well as Lyme disease.
Vocabulary: flåter – ticks
READ ALSO:
- What you need to know about ticks in Denmark and how to avoid them
- Danish project aims to map out ticks and their bites
Weather destroys art installation on extreme weather
An art installation about the weather was near-flattened during windy weather conditions yesterday, in an unfortunately ironic display of nature’s force.
The installation, “Wadden Tide” opened on August 31st on the beach at Blåvand in northwest Jutland, and the art works had been intended to stay on in place throughout September.
The works by eight different artists were all about the strength of nature and sand as a force and material that can change the landscape on the Danish west coast, which is no stranger to heavy winds and harsh weather.
They were designed to withstand storms, but Wednesday’s weather was too much for most of the art works as water rose up the beach and flattened them, Varde Municipality said in a statement.
“The exhibition was about the harsh weather on the west coast, which is out of our control. That the works end up being destroyed by a storm flood is evidence of precisely this,” the local council’s head of culture and leisure Karsten Rimmer told DR.
Vocabulary: ødelagt – destroyed
Central bank urges political caution over inflation
The Nationalbank, Denmark’s central bank, says that inflation will continue this year and next and that politicians should therefore take a cautious approach to spending.
The central bank published its latest forecast for the Danish economy on Wednesday.
In the prognosis, the Nationalbank says that inflation will be at around 3.8 percent this year and 3 percent next year. Wage increases are cited as a primary factor.
The bank urged politicians to tread carefully with decisions that can impact the economy.
“We are still not where we need to be in relation to securing low and stable inflation in Denmark,” Nationalbank director Christian Kettel Thomsen said in a statement.
Vocabulary: en prognose – a prognosis/forecast
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