In this year’s hospital speech, Kjerkol spared no expense when she talked about the need for reprioritization in the health sector and a reduction in the use of temp agencies. “We simply have to put an end to that.” As a newly qualified doctor, I am provoked by the Minister of Health’s short-term solutions. When I started medical school, it was, like many others, due to a desire to work with and help people. It didn’t take long before I realized that the reality within the hospital’s walls is something completely different from what I imagined and, in short, brutal. Through the corridors, several heroes of nurses run from room to room, in the empty break rooms there are packed lunches left in their bags and sick patients wait for hours in the emergency department. It took me a week to make it a habit to regret the long waiting time in front of patients and about half a year to put aside my bad conscience to actually take the time to eat lunch after ten hours at work. The dream of becoming a doctor who is good in dealing with patients was quickly replaced with the dream of becoming “a doctor who is good at not showing that it burns on all sides”. I’ll give Kjerkol some credit, it makes sense to reduce the use of temp agencies. Because yes, the use is neither beneficial for the healthcare provider, nor even more importantly: for the patients. It still surprises me that this can be dismissed as a trivial order, without the minister responsible for the state of Norwegian hospitals addressing what this use of substitutes is a symptom of: A healthcare system on its knees. The use of a temporary agency is a symptom of a serious illness. The health sector is under pressure on all sides, and the professionals Kjerkol apparently praises at the beginning of his speech, pressured to the limit every day. High sickness absence among employees, blood red numbers and burst capacity are the norm. In recent weeks, we have seen several examples of health services being closed down and health personnel fleeing their professions, and not least how this affects patients. You don’t have to go any further than the British health system before you see how bad things can actually go if the politicians are unable to solve the crisis. But Kjerkol continues to stretch the elastic, and then with a condescending tone. The fact that price increases in society are used as an explanation for the order from the Minister of Health makes me put the coffee down my throat. Putting an end to the use of temp agencies, as well as looking at “what the healthcare company can do less of”, appears at best to be a target and at worst to be an abdication of responsibility. Because no diseases or diagnoses care that we are in 2023, that inflation affects society and that we are already under pressure after a pandemic. Healthcare personnel have given notice and the Medical Association has been clear in its speech. Cuts in the health sector will go beyond patient treatment and patient safety. Our job is to treat and care for patients. The politicians’ job is to make it possible for that to happen. We need a health minister and a government that prioritizes the public health system more strongly, because we are already on our knees.
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We are already on our knees, Kjerkol! – Speech
