In the report from the Health Personnel Commission, division of tasks becomes a central theme, news learns. On Thursday, the report will be published which proposes major changes to what the various professional groups within health must carry out. The commission believes that the answer is not more employees, but that work must be done more efficiently. Some of the proposals are: Specialists should not do tasks that others can do More tasks are given to health professionals and unskilled people Overtreatment must be overcome If the proposals are implemented, many nursing tasks will be given to other health personnel in the years to come. 35,000 nurses in the hospitals Today there are 35,000 nurses employed in the health institutions and only 3,500 health professionals. More and more positions in the hospitals have been converted into nursing positions. Several other professions are also more or less absent from hospitals. This has led to hospitals where nurses do many tasks that were previously carried out by other professional groups. REPLACED: Even when hospitals have advertised skilled worker/nursing assistant positions, nurses have been employed. Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB scanpix At Sykehuset Østfold, they have come up with new ideas. There, the healthcare workers have been given a new status. They receive training for tasks that were previously reserved for nurses. And not least, they are employed in 100 per cent positions. – It is high time to think again. We have to divide the tasks in a different way. Health professionals can perform far more tasks than they do today. That’s what Iren Luther, head of health and social affairs at the Trade Union Confederation, says. WANT CHANGES: One of the members of the commission is Iren Luther in the Trade Union. She is a trained nurse herself. Photo: The trade union Luther points to Sykehuset Østfold as a shining example. Read: Nursing assistants are being pushed out of hospitals. Typical tasks that healthcare workers perform at Sykehuset Østfold are measuring blood pressure, treating minor wounds, and dispensing medicine. They also assist during operations. Increased pressure on employees There should be a completely new way of thinking about the tasks of the various professions, the commission believes. Ever since December 2021, they have been working to assess the need for health personnel and expertise up until 2040. The commission points out that Norway faces major challenges in gaining access to personnel, and that the pressure on employees in the health sector has increased in recent years. It is not realistic to increase staffing, the commission writes in its report. Norway already uses more resources than anyone else in the health sector. At the same time, the proportion of elderly people is increasing, while the proportion of people of working age is not increasing. Nor does the head of the Nurses’ Association, Lill Sverresdatter Larsen, reject another division of tasks in the hospitals. – The work that the nurses do around and with the patient can be distributed more appropriately. Responsibility can be clarified both between professions and between levels in the services, says Larsen. NURSING GENERAL: Thinks it is necessary to discuss what tasks and responsibilities nurses and other health professions should have. Photo: Halldor Asvall – Should more positions in the hospitals that are currently filled by nurses be given to healthcare professionals? – It is always the patient’s situation and needs, as well as consideration for professional soundness, quality and patient safety that must be governing, answers Larsen. Politicians open to change In the Storting, several parties believe that the time is ripe to look at division of tasks in the health sector. – A review must be carried out to look at the possibility of moving tasks down. Despite the nursing shortage, many nurses spend their working time on tasks other than helping patients and users. That’s what Sylvi Listhaug, leader of the Frp, says. WANT TO MOVE TASKS: Believes nurses should spend more time on real patient care. Photo: Ole Berg Rusten / NTB – It is obvious that greater division of tasks between several health professions is one of the solutions. The right expertise in the right place is crucial going forward. I find that the various health professions also see this. That’s what Tone Wilhelmsen Trøen, head of the Storting’s health committee, says. CALLS FOR COOPERATION: Tone Trøen (H) thinks it makes sense to divide the tasks differently. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB Trøen urges constructive cooperation, and warns against fixed attitudes. – We lack health personnel, but assign nurses, doctors and health professionals to a bunch of tasks that others could do, says Seher Aydar, parliamentary representative for Rødt. NO TO HOUSEWORK: Seher Aydar (R) believes nurses do too much housework. Photo: Mathias Moene Rød / news – Now we hope that nurses and healthcare workers will end up doing housework, administration and caretaker duties, continues Aydar. 1,300 healthcare workers removed For the healthcare organizations combined in 2021, the number of man-years per group was: 3,562 healthcare workers 19,269 ordinary nurses 14,386 specialist nurses 14,782 doctors Since 2008, more than 1,300 man-years for healthcare workers have been lost at Norwegian hospitals, according to Statistics Norway. When an auxiliary nursing position at a hospital becomes vacant, it is very rare that the position is filled by an auxiliary nurse, or healthcare worker as it is now called. The use of part-time work is also a topic in the report. Healthcare workers in particular often have to make do with small job fractions. – We believe more full-time positions for healthcare workers are an important part of the solution, says Iren Luther in the Trade Union. A majority of the commission believes that more tasks and employees should be transferred to the municipalities. As part of this work, they propose that far more study places in health should be added to the districts.
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Committee will give nursing tasks to health professionals – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
