Over 400 nurses have left the public health sector, a report from the Copenhagen University of Applied Sciences has revealed. Constantly busy and packed work schedules, too many extra and odd-hour shifts, and inexperienced colleagues were some of the reasons why the former government nurses have mostly chosen to work in private hospitals or in Norway instead. Although low wages were mentioned often in the report, the university’s associate professor Nana Vaaben said raising the salary alone would not fix the problem. “They are often called in their spare time and asked or forced to stay longer at work, and this is obviously not conducive to wanting to stay in one’s job,” Vaaben, who worked on the report, said. Research has shown that Denmark will lack around 10,000 nurses by 2030 due to hiring constraints and more elderly people needing care.
