March 4 this year will be the last day of operation for the ABC unit at Ullevål Hospital. Trade union representatives and employees were notified on Tuesday morning. The closure is explained by financial considerations. – This is despite the fact that no economic analysis has been done that shows the benefit or the consequences of the closure, says ABC union representative and midwife Kristin Bøhn. – People are terribly upset, this is the life’s work of many of the midwives who have worked at ABC for 25 years. The Nurses’ Association’s chief shop steward at the women’s clinic, Anne Hauan Helle, is upset. – This is completely tragic for all the women who have given birth at ABC, and those who have applied there. And it is a disaster for the field of agriculture, she says. OUS confirms the closure to news on Tuesday. – With 1,100 fewer births in the past year and a shortage of midwives, we have to use our professionals in fewer birthing rooms, says Miriam Nyberg, head of the maternity department. – Closure of the three birthing rooms on the ABC unit is what has the least negative consequences. Bollestad: – Madness! Several politicians reacted strongly to the news. Among them KrF leader Olaug Bollestad: – Madness! This does not work. Pregnant women deserve better than this, she says. And adds that the offer has been important to many. KrF leader Olaug Bollestad believes it is unheard of for pregnant women to lose their offer at short notice. Photo: Roy Pettersen / news Liberal Party leader Guri Melby also reacts. – This makes zero sense, she says. – Now they are closing down the most popular delivery service in Oslo for both women and the midwives who work there – and blame it on costs. The ABC unit is one of the best known in the country for natural births. And they follow up particularly vulnerable pregnant women. – We take care of many women with childbirth anxiety and other psychological challenges. I would say that ABC has been a lifesaver for many, says Kristin Bøhn. She points out that when ABC disappears, there will be no such offer in the entire Eastland area. – We have women who come a long way from Oslo to give birth at ABC. Oslo University Hospital (OUS) has previously said that all their maternity wards accept women with anxiety about giving birth. Closing maternity wards Earlier in January, it became clear that OUS will have to cut around 440 man-years. Among other things, 30 man-years at the Women’s Clinic. Even then, the closure of two to four maternity wards was announced. And the shop stewards saw quickly that the ABC unit was threatened. It was closed throughout the summer, and since autumn the department has also been closed at weekends. Long waiting time Even before the closure, the hospital had too few birthing rooms, according to shop stewards at the women’s clinic. news met some of them a few days before the news of the ABC closure came. Ida Karin Losset works at the obstetrics/gynecology reception at Ullevål Hospital. They welcome both pregnant women who need urgent help and women who are about to give birth. Photo: Jenny Dahl Bakken / news For example Ida Karin Losset, who is a shop steward at the maternity ward at Ullevål. Everyone who is about to give birth comes here first. And the waiting time can be long. – We have patients down with us who have to walk and wander around for several hours. Because they are in labour, but not quite at the point where they need the delivery room first, she says. There is simply a queue at the delivery room. Trade union representatives are concerned With fewer maternity wards, the waiting time will be longer, trade union representatives fear. – We never know when the “peaks” will come, and when that happens we suddenly have two to four birthing rooms less, says Karianne Ellinger-Kaya. She works at one of the other maternity wards at the hospital. When news met her and Losset, they did not know for sure that the ABC unit was to be closed down. Karianne Ellinger-Kaya (left) and Ida Karin Losset are trustees at the women’s clinic at Ullevål Hospital. Photo: Jenny Dahl Bakken / news But they were worried. – I fear most of all that it goes beyond normal births, Ellinger-Kaya said then. Because ABC has mainly dealt with so-called low-risk births. While the other maternity wards also handle complicated births. Without the ABC offer, the women who need less follow-up could at worst be left to fend for themselves, fear the union representatives.
ttn-69
The ABC clinic at Ullevål Hospital in Oslo is closing down – news Oslo and Viken – Local news, TV and radio
