– It is of course a situation we are not happy with, says clinic manager Stephen Sollid at OUS. He is head of the prehospital clinic. They are responsible for the AMK center in Oslo. A central for 1.7 million inhabitants. You get here when you call the medical emergency number 113 from the capital and large parts of the surrounding areas. Last spring, the State Administrator was on an inspection visit. Their report established that the time it takes for people to get an answer when they call 113 is not always reasonable. The staffing crisis peaked last autumn. Many people do not get answers when they should. The requirement is that 90 per cent of calls from the public to 113 must be answered within 10 seconds. AMK in Oslo still cannot do that. In March and April, 86 percent received a response within 10 seconds. In January and February, the proportion was down to 81 per cent. Clinic manager Stephen Sollid points to several reasons. A combination of a lack of staffing and a sharp increase in the number of telephones. But it varies from day to day and hour to hour. It is particularly bad during short, busy periods. Then there may be very few who get an answer within 10 seconds. Stephen Sollid is head of the Prehospital clinic at the AMK center in Oslo. Photo: Hanne Høyland / news – We can be completely below 50 per cent, says Stephen Sollid. But in recent months, the average response time has decreased slightly. In April it was five seconds. Although this year someone has had to wait for over a minute to get an answer, there have been no serious consequences, claims Sollid. Still struggling with staffing One of the problems at AMK has been too few employees and that many employees quit. When the AMK crisis was at its worst last autumn, 20 out of 140 positions were unfilled. Now there are 22 unfilled positions. The clinic manager acknowledges that the management has not been good enough to look after employees after they have received courses and training. – We have to work on that, and we hope that a reorganization with better support for following up the employees can contribute to that. Few employees also mean that the duty schedule has many gaps. Nevertheless, it has become somewhat better. – I think the employees do what they can to help their workplace to get things going. I think we can thank them for a lot of this here, says Sollid. No cause for concern One year ago, the State Administrator determined that the response to public inquiries to 113 in Oslo is not always justifiable. Is that still the case? – Of course, it happens that we have incidents that are not handled quite optimally. – But we ourselves believe that we have come a long way from the situation we were in when the State Administrator was in charge, says Sollid. This advertising poster for 113 hangs on the wall at the AMK central. Photo: Siv Johanne Bjørkly Seglem / news This advertising poster for 113 hangs on the wall at the AMK central. Photo: Siv Johanne Bjørkly Seglem / news He admits that AMK still has a way to go to fulfill what was pointed out after the inspection. Both when it comes to response time, follow-up of employees who receive difficult calls at work and quality assurance of the work they do. What would you say to those who are concerned? – I would say that it is permissible to be concerned, but I can reassure the population of Oslo, Akershus, Østfold and the Kongsvinger region that we have a very good AMK center in Oslo, which helps people when they need it. When they need to call 113, says Stephen Sollid.
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AMK in Oslo is still struggling to answer emergency calls on 113 when they should – news Oslo og Viken – Local news, TV and radio
