– The waiting time has never been longer. The government has taken several measures that have worsened the situation, Erna Solberg believes. The right-wing prime ministerial candidate is right, if you look at the Norwegian Directorate of Health’s statistics for the period 2012-2024. In August 2024, the average waiting time in the special health service was 85.2 days. It is the longest waiting time that has been measured. The statistics go back to 2012. Now Solberg wants to reverse the current government’s policy in several areas. – We reverse because they reversed our policy. It worked. Sometimes it is the old medicine that works best, says the Høgre leader. Solberg believes that the health queues should become an important issue in the election campaign, and see them in connection with social problems such as sickness absence. Back to old model The former prime minister is visiting Haraldsplass Diakonale Sykehus in his hometown of Bergen. She believes this is a good example of parts of the health policy that are not working. – We have never treated more patients, but are not appreciated for being effective. The waiting lists are getting longer, but we don’t have the funding to be able to increase the capacity, says Petter Thornam, who is deputy managing director at the hospital. Petter Thornam talks about the work being done at Haraldsplass to make operations more efficient. Photo: Oddgeir Øystese / news Høgre now wants the financing of Norwegian hospitals to be more dependent on the number of patients they treat. This is called effort-based financing. – It must pay to treat more patients, believes Solberg. – The way it is now, it is difficult to, for example, keep the clinics open in the evening to remove the queue. Financing is not included. – Isn’t this a system that will favor hospitals in the big cities and exclude hospitals in the districts? – Not necessarily. But smaller hospitals probably need to get better at specialising. Under the Solberg government, 50 per cent of the funding was linked to each individual patient. This proportion is now reduced to 30 per cent. In addition to changing this funding back to the way it was, Høgre emphasizes that they want more use of private and non-profit actors. The party also announces a major investment in new technology. – Høgre has no plan Despite the fact that Solberg thinks she is putting forward a plan to reduce the health queues, the message is clear from the government. – The right has no plan! We have a plan, and it works, says Health and Care Minister Jan Christian Vestre from the Labor Party. Jan Christian Vestre (Ap) believes that Høgre does not have a plan to reduce the health queues. Photo: Vibecke Wold Haagensen / news In May, Vestre launched the so-called waiting time lift. This, he believes, is already showing good results. In addition, the health care queues began to rise during Solberg’s reign, he believes. He believes that the plans to change the funding to follow the patient to a greater extent are a game of chance. – I register that Solberg here goes against the advice of professionals. If she wants to do it, it is with a big risk. We would rather strengthen the basic funding of hospitals, says the Minister of Health. What both politicians agree on is that it is crucial to succeed in bringing down the health queues. This may therefore become an important matter before the election next autumn. Haraldsplass in Bergen is one of the hospitals that believe they would benefit from changing the funding model back. Photo: Simon Skjelvik Brandseth / news Published 23.09.2024, at 17.08
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Blame the government for long health queues – news Vestland
