– It is not certain that I would have lived today, Hildegunn Nergaard tells news. She has taken us to the room she stayed in when she was a patient at Modum Bad – a private clinic that treats mental disorders. Nergaard lived here for three months while she received trauma treatment. – When I got here, I was very tired. I had accepted all the treatment I was offered. But I never got any further. I felt like I was standing on the spot resting, at the same time I felt like I was drowning. – It was good to come here, says former patient Hildegunn Nergaard about her stay at Modum Bad. Photo: William Jobling / news The stay at Modum Bad gave her the opportunity to be 100 per cent sick for the first time, says Nergaard. – No one thought it was strange, or that I had no reason to be sick. I was believed, seen and heard. So it was good to come here. Nergaard believes that a three-month course of treatment was absolutely necessary to get better. Hildegunn Nergaard lived in this room at Modum Bad for three months while she received trauma treatment. Photo: William Jobling / news – I would never have been able to work like this on my story had I not been here. I cannot understand how it can be done. Now she fears that others in her situation will not enjoy the same treatment that was vital to her. Must cut 3,000 inpatient days Director Kari Jussie Lønning at Modum Bad says they now have to reduce capacity by 3,000 inpatient days in 2023 because the government has ended the scheme with free choice of treatment. – I am in a situation now, after the closure of free choice of treatment, where we cannot help patients for whom we have specialist expertise and capacity. Kari Jussie Lønning, director at Modum bad. Photo: William Jobling / news – Now the health institutions say that they must continue the capacity in mental health. Don’t you believe them? – I know that the healthcare institutions work incredibly well and intensively, but also have very long waiting times. And a capacity that is probably experienced as quite pressured. Lønning hopes that good plans have been made for how the capacity will be continued. – But our offer is a specialized offer that is not offered elsewhere, she says. The Modum Bad clinic in Vikersund has around 100 patient places. Here, patients are treated for anxiety, trauma, depression, eating disorders and serious cohabitation problems. Photo: William Jobling / news Defends the decision Minister of Health Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap) defends the decision to discontinue the scheme with free choice of treatment. – Free choice of treatment means that it becomes more difficult to prioritize. The money is disappearing from our joint hospitals. We have to prioritize quality and patient safety in the coming years, she says to news. Kjerkol emphasizes that you can still choose private treatment as long as the operator has an agreement with the health regions. Health Minister Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap) defends the decision to discontinue the scheme with free choice of treatment. She also says that mental health and substance abuse is a priority for the government. – We have prioritized this both through earmarked funds, and it is also clear in the assignment the hospitals have been given for 2023. But at the Clinic for Mental Health and Addiction at Oslo University Hospital, funding must be tightened by NOK 90 million in 2023. – What you are signaling Doesn’t mean much if the hospitals don’t have that money, does it? – What the Minister of Health assigns is the driving force for the hospital’s operation, emphasizes Kjerkol. – The need is only increasing. The decision to close free choice of treatment worries Frp leader Sylvi Listhaug. She is afraid that it will go beyond the capacity of psychiatry. – Many lose the opportunity to choose private offers and the queues are likely to increase. There is available treatment capacity at the same time as we know that there are so many people waiting in line, she says. FRP leader Sylvi Listhaug is concerned that the queues within psychiatry will increase now that the government has discontinued the scheme with free choice of treatment. Photo: Kai Rune Kvitstein / news – But the health institutions must continue the capacity in mental health? – Yes, but for Modum’s part it will mean a decline. This means that the queues increase even more. They offer very important treatment for people with major psychological challenges, and we know that there will be more of those who need help. – Then it is very wrong to reduce treatment offers when we know that the need is only increasing, Listhaug asserts. – Danger to life and health The reduction of bed days at Modum Bad also worries national leader Ole-Marius Minde Johnsen in Mental Health. – The waiting time will increase, there will be major cuts in the treatment offer, and life and health will be at risk. National leader Ole-Marius Minde Johnsen in Mental Health fears that the waiting time for treatment will increase. Photo: Emilie Gjengedal Vatnøy – But these resources must be brought back to the hospitals? – The challenge here is that they do not have a plan for using those resources, says Minde. But the Minister of Health rejects that. Kjerkol says the government has been planning this for a year. – The health regions have made additional purchases so that the transition is not felt by the patients. These are resources that will now remain in our hospitals, she emphasizes. – Heartbreaking Former patient Hildegunn Nergaard thinks it is “absolutely terrible” that the government’s policy will now have consequences for Modum Bad. – I know myself how important this has been for me and my life today. And the thought that there are so many others out there, with a similar story to mine, who will not receive this treatment is heartbreaking, she says. Former patient Hildegunn Nergaard finds it heartbreaking that Modum Bad now has to reduce its capacity. Photo: William Jobling / news Nergaard says that she has had a much better life after the treatment she received at Modum Bad. – I am not a politician. But what I can at least say is that for me it has been absolutely crucial and life-saving to be allowed to receive treatment here.
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