BrazilBearingPoint pro-bono supports Swedish Covid-19 hospital
European-origin consultancy BearingPoint has provided pro bono support for setting up a temporary field hospital in Stockholm. The firm assisted Sweden’s Government as it sought to transform its health care system to manage the rise in patients needing medical assistance amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Amid the global lock-down brought in to stifle the spread of Covid-19, Sweden stands out for its notoriously light-touch approach to tackling the pandemic. It has closed senior schools and banned gatherings of more than 50, but instead of ordering, it has only asked people to avoid non-essential travel, work from home and stay at home if they are elderly or ill, contrasting markedly from the rest of Europe.
One area of commonality between Sweden and a number of European countries, is that it has introduced military field hospitals to help reduce the strain the current pandemic is placing on its health infrastructure. Developing the units at the same time as Spain implemented similar plans, Sweden’s military put together 30 intensive care sites in areas like Gothenburg at the Eastern Hospital, and Älvsjömässan in Stockholm.
Commenting on the measure, Karl Chevalley, regional emergency response physician, told the press, “What I know is this is a unique use of field hospitals in Sweden. This is a field hospital designed to take care of wounded soldiers in war. Now we are converting it into a pandemic hospital to take care of seriously ill corona patients.”
The field hospitals are the first to operate on Swedish soil since the Second World War, and while the Armed Forces build the hospitals, the medical services are then managed by ordinary county council staff. Upon opening, the field hospital outside Stockholm added 140 beds to the 450 already made available for those being treated for Covid-19.
The field hospital since expanded to hold 600 beds, and provide patient care, intermediate care, intensive care and palliative care. Facilities like it are key on a national level to helping triple hospital capacity, according to health director in the Stockholm region Björn Eriksson.
Eriksson explained, "We do not see any slowdown in the rate of increase; quite the contrary. Right now, we have available capacity at the hospitals, because we have been able to expand capacity so much. It's about hoping for the best but preparing for the worst."
In the case of the temporary hospital based at the Stockholm Expo ground, international consultancy BearingPoint offered pro bono support for the project, based on its extensive experiences from offering management consulting services to the healthcare sector. BearingPoint supported the hospital management by defining the design and processes by which the hospital will operate.
A statement from BearingPoint’s LinkedIn confirmed, “This work included designing the patient flow (from arriving to leaving), planning and visualisation the hospital beds, documenting external flow (ambulances, visitors etc.), organisational design, and developing a manual for setting up the field hospital (document the processes). We are honoured and proud to have been given the opportunity to support Swedish healthcare in this difficult time.”
