– The costs have increased quite appallingly in this project, in Health logistics, says shop steward and board member Christian Grimsgaard in Helse Sør-East. Together with the two other employee representatives on the board, Grimsgaard has voted against the country’s largest healthcare company continuing with Helselogistik. Central to the solution is an American cloud service to which there is legal uncertainty. But the management and the board carry out the project, despite the resistance among the employees. The Health Logistics project will, among other things, ensure that patients register digitally on arrival at the hospital and are guided to the correct department. The purpose of the system is to save money and time, both for the patients and the employees. Board documents show that the project will not lead to the country’s largest healthcare company saving money. On the contrary. WILL NOT BE PROFITABLE: CEO Terje Rootwelt of Helse Sør-Öst admitted at a board meeting in May that Health Logistics will not be a profitable project. Photo: Knesia Novikova / news The project will not be profitable. Health logistics is likely to cost over NOK 1.7 billion, according to documents from Health Sør – East board meetings. Two years ago, the budget was NOK 700 million. – The costs of the project exceed the specific calculated gains over the next 8-10 years. The overall project does not appear to be profitable in this period. It is clearly problematic and unfortunate that this has not been known earlier, CEO Terje Rootwelt told the board on 11 May this year. news has requested an interview with the management of Helse Sør-Öst this week. We have not received that, but instead we have received an email with answers to some of our questions. – We register the concern of the employee-elected board members. Some assumptions were made as to which of the areas the various healthcare organizations wanted to use. The scope has later been expanded. It is therefore not “apples and apples” when you compare the original estimates with the most recently updated estimates, writes Terje Rootwelt in the e-mail to news. More options The employees believe that the management should look for other solutions. NEGATIVE: Employee representative Christian Grimsgaard in Helse Sør-Öst believes that the health company should look at alternatives to Health Logistics. The project will be far too expensive and there is too much risk associated with it, he believes. Photo: Anne Cecilie Remen / news – We wanted to get alternatives on the table. We believe that we should have a solution that is not too expensive, and not a solution that involves so much risk and whether it is feasible. The risk is also that the solution may be stopped by the Norwegian Data Protection Authority or other supervisors because they believe that the data security is too poor, says Grimsgaard. news has previously reported on challenges with information security linked to the Health Logistics system. Sensitive patient data of over 3.1 million Norwegians will be posted on an American-owned cloud. The problem is that this is legally demanding, since the EU and the US do not have an agreement that regulates the disclosure of data. The Norwegian Data Protection Authority has been heavily involved in several rounds and the Norwegian Data Protection Authority has asked the country’s largest healthcare company to pull on the brakes. Among other things, the Norwegian Data Protection Authority has advised Helse Sør-East that patient data should be protected through pseudonymisation and encryption. Helse Sør-Öst has instead carried out several legal assessments. The conclusion of the health authority is that it is not likely that the American authorities will be interested in or gain access to Norwegian patient data. The health authority believes they have now taken the necessary legal measures, and that the chosen solution with an American-owned cloud is legal. The Norwegian Data Protection Authority is waiting for Helselogistikk to be put into use before they possibly carry out inspections on how privacy is safeguarded. Milliardsprekk Health logistics is delayed by over a year. This could have consequences for the new hospitals being built, Radiumhospitalet and Nye Drammen Hospital. These hospitals depend on the functioning of Health Logistics. In addition, a number of errors with the system have been discovered during testing. SERIOUS: Vice-president Elisabet Haugsbø in Tekna believes it is serious that HSØ’s management does not listen to employees and professionals. Haugsbø works on a daily basis with cyber security. Photo: Mikkel Moe / Tekna – We don’t even know if the suppliers are able to deliver what they have promised, says Grimsgaard. The management emphasizes that the errors are no bigger than they can be solved. As a member of the steering group of Helselogistik, Grimsgaard is well informed about the weaknesses of the system. He is afraid that the costs of the project will not stop at NOK 1.7 billion. Because the development of the system has proved more demanding than the management first assumed. In April last year, it turned out that the first calculations did not hold. The project was expanded and licenses were more expensive than planned. A new 282 million was set aside for the development of the project. At board meetings in April and May this year, it turned out that it was not sufficient. There were several challenges with development and integration. New numbers came on the table. The project had to have a new NOK 394 million. It appears from board documents that costs have increased, among other things, due to integrations with the records system and with payment solutions. In addition, costs for operation and maintenance of the system have also increased significantly, from NOK 519 million to over NOK 1 billion. Read also: Cost loopholes and errors at the Health Platform Employees against But despite objections from the employee representatives, the management and the board have nevertheless hammered the project through at the last board meeting in May. It is unwise, believes the vice-president of Tekna, which organizes IT engineers. – I think it is very serious, that once again you do not listen to professionals and those with professional expertise on the subject, that you have a project that becomes twice as expensive and with deviations, you still choose to go ahead with such a solution, says Elisabet Haugsbø, vice president of Tekna. Tekna believes that the employees should have been heard in this case. – I hope that it can still be possible to turn around because this does not provide a good enough basis for a secure platform that you must have over time if you have a lot of sensitive information. The board must listen to the professionals if they are to have a good decision that will stand the test of time, says Haugsbø. Stopping the costs Nito, who organizes technical staff and engineers, is also critical of Helse Sør-Øst’s handling of healthcare logistics. The organization is unsure whether the management has control over the costs. – Are HSØ sure that the costs will stop now, or will there be more cost increases? Have they really done a thorough assessment of the project. It doesn’t seem that way when the employees vote against and believe that this is not a good and safe solution, says Bjørn Tore Sund, deputy chairman of Nito’s ICT expert committee. The management of Helse Sør-Est responds to the criticism as follows: – We have to expect changes in major projects along the way, and one of the areas we have spent longer on than originally planned is the assessments related to the use of cloud, says Terje Rootwelt. It appears from the board documents that the board asks the administration to draw lessons from Health Logistics in new major ICT projects. – ICT projects are often both large and complicated and involve many people, and we seek to continuously learn lessons. We have established a portfolio board for the ICT projects where the top manager of all the health enterprises sits, says Terje Rootwelt, the chief executive of Helse Sør-East. Hey, do you have any thoughts on this matter? Feel free to send me an email. I work a lot with working life and with IT security, and would like to have input or tips on other issues I should look into. Get in touch then
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Billions of dollars for controversial hospital service – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
