The matter in summary: Health Minister Jan Christian Vestre will investigate all possibilities to improve support for patients who report abuse in the health care system. 41 patients have shared their experiences in a survey carried out by news. 34 of them state that they have lost trust in the healthcare system after the cases. The Norwegian Health Authority has identified potential for improvement in case management and will tighten up its routines. Vestre emphasizes that it is important not to give the Norwegian Health Authority a dual role, where they must both supervise and provide health care. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. In the past week, news has written several cases about the follow-up patients received after reporting abuse by doctors. – I was surprised by the scale, not least when we see how many people struggle with mental health problems. This has had consequences for work participation for some of them, says Jan Christian Vestre (Ap). 41 patients have told about their experiences in a survey carried out by news. It shows, among other things, that 28 of the patients have told about psychological problems afterwards. – I think we can all only imagine what these people have gone through, and that it goes beyond their trust in the health services, says Vestre. – This should not happen Vestre believes that one of the most serious issues in the investigation is that several of the patients news has spoken to say that it has been difficult to ask for help from the same system that has just abused their trust. 34 out of 41 patients have explained that they lost trust in the healthcare system after what they went through. – When I see so many people who say that they no longer have trust in the health service, simply because actors in the health service have broken that trust, of course it makes a big impression. That’s why I say we have to turn over every stone to see if we can make things better. This simply should not happen in Norway. Photo: Alexander Nordby / news The Norwegian Health Authority takes action He is happy that the Norwegian Health Authority has seen that there is potential for improvement in the case management and expects them to follow up. At the same time, he points out that they are a supervisory authority. – We must not give the Norwegian Health Authority a dual role, where they must both supervise and provide health care, says Vestre. Director of the Norwegian Health Authority, Sjur Lehmann, said on Thursday that they are tightening up their routines. This involves both a conversation with the patients during the course and afterwards, says Lehmann. – In that conversation, it must also be addressed whether the person in question gets the help they need. If the person in question answers no, we will use our knowledge of the healthcare system to give some good advice on where they can go. Director of Health Inspection Sjur Lehmann says they will tighten routines for talking to those who report. Photo: Alexander Nordby / news They will also talk to the patients when the case is concluded. – It can be difficult for the person concerned to get to grips with the written material that is to come. There may be a need for elaboration and explanations, which are not so easy to ask for without follow-up, says Lehmann. This is how news worked with the investigation: When news worked on the project “Doctors in grey”, which was published in March, news came into contact with several patients who had notified the authorities about sexually transgressive behavior by doctors. In the conversations with the patients, one thing in particular was repeated: Many called for help from the healthcare system during and after the case. Based on this, news would investigate the allegations by talking to as many involved patients as possible. The health authorities are not aware that such an examination of patient follow-up has been carried out previously. news has asked the Norwegian Health Authority, state administrators and municipalities to pass on letters to patients in these cases. In this part of the project, news has contacted 158 patients. 86 of them did not answer. 72 people responded. 41 of the patients have chosen to answer a survey and several of them have agreed to an interview. The figures presented in this case come from the survey where these 41 have answered seven yes/no questions: Have you received follow-up/help after you spoke up? Have you suffered psychological problems after what you were exposed to? Would you say that you were in a vulnerable situation when this happened? Has what happened had a consequence for work/studies/family? Did you get compensation after the case? Was your case reported to the police? Has what you experienced caused trust in the healthcare system to weaken? news also asked the patients to elaborate on their answers if they wished, and several of them came forward for an interview with a desire to tell more. The survey is based on the patients’ self-reporting. In addition, news has documents from, among other things, supervisory authorities and courts in the various cases. Open to looking at more measures Researcher Siri Thoresen, at the National Knowledge Center against Violence and Traumatic Stress, has proposed a LOS scheme, or a support person for those who report sexual abuse. The government-appointed Rape Text Committee proposed this. Researcher at the National Knowledge Center against violence and traumatic stress Siri Thoresen. – You should try it out and systematically collect some experience to assess whether this is the way to work further, she says. Health Minister Jan Christian Vestre says this is something that can be considered. But the pilot services Norway has today are often associated with national disasters or terrorist attacks. – In any case, I believe that we must turn over all stones to see if we can take more measures than the measures that have already been started, says Vestre. Hello! Do you have tips, other information or do you have a similar story? Then you can contact news’s journalists by e-mail or via encrypted message on Signal or Whatsapp. Tel: 992 99 332 Published 25.11.2024, at 05.55
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Jan Christian Vestre wants to improve the follow-up for patients who report abuse – news Innlandet – Local news, TV and radio
