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HOSPITAL

Princess Mette-Marit shows off neck scar

Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit returned to work on Wednesday, making no attempt to conceal the long, thin scar on her neck from last month's operation.

Published: 12 December 2013 10:34 CET
Princess Mette-Marit shows off neck scar
Crown Princess Mette-Marit with a thin scar clearly visible just above her neckline Photo: Fredrik Varfjell / NTB scanpix
The 40-year-old royal has been off work since the start of October, and on 15th November had surgery to treat the neck herniation which had immobilised her for months. 
 
"I feel better and I'm very grateful for that, Mette-Marit told reporters as she arrived to speak at the annual conference of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation. 
 
"I do not feel very mobile," she added, apologizing to the audience that she could not turn her head to face them from the stage.
 
The scar, which was several centimetres long, was still slightly  red but had otherwise completely healed up.  
 
Haldor Slettebø, a doctor at Oslo Research Hospital, said that the scars from the operation, typically just over 4cm long generally became so pale as to be almost invisible after about a year. 

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STATISTICS

Norway saw fewer hospital patients in 2020 despite pandemic

Fewer patients were treated in hospital in 2020 than in 2019, with Covid-19 being the reason for the drop, according to Statistics Norway.

Published: 13 April 2021 16:25 CEST
Norway saw fewer hospital patients in 2020 despite pandemic
Illustration photo by Audun Braastad / AFP)

The decline in patients has been largest for those awaiting planned treatments, but the number of people requiring immediate attention also dropped too, according to Statistics Norway figures.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, hospitals had to prioritise differently in 2020 as a result of the increased need for intensive care units.

“2020 was a year marked by pandemics and restrictions. In many places hospitals have had to prioritise differently due to the coronavirus, and perhaps particularly as the result of the increased need for intensive care,” the report said.

This has contributed to a decrease in the number of patients in hospitals at all levels of care.

The number of patients with 24-hour stays decreased by 7 percent. The total number of days spent in hospital fell by 11 percent or 380,000 fewer days in a hospital bed in 2020 compared to 2019.

Hospital stays lasting at least 24 hours include both planned and unplanned visits. In 2020 planned visits accounted for 29 percent of all visits, which is a decrease of 16 percent from the previous year, while visits for immediate appointments decreased by 3 percent.

READ ALSO: Norwegian senior medic calls for geographical division of Covid-19 restrictions

The figures show a decline for almost all diagnostic groups, but cancer patients had a smaller decline than other groups.

Planned treatment of various forms of cancer decreased by 8 percent, but acute help for tumours saw an increase of 11 percent.

This reverses a trend of numbers of patients in hospitals increasing year on year. The increases had primarily been driven by patients at outpatient clinics.

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