– We must use the word crisis. The words come from chairman Roald Linaker at the University Hospital of Northern Norway (UNN). The mood was serious during the extraordinary board meeting on Friday morning. The hospital is in serious financial trouble. The overspending so far this year is a staggering NOK 250 million. On Friday, the overspending was presented in detail: Wage supplement – NOK 48 million Overtime use – NOK 38 million Temp use – NOK 18 million Hiring from staffing agencies – NOK 72 million Laboratory equipment – NOK 35 million Other medical consumables – NOK 34 million Purchase of health services – NOK 52 million – I I’m not so naive as to think that no one will notice this. It will be felt, stated UNN director Anita Schumacher before the meeting was rounded off. UNN director Anita Schumacher apologized to the board that the situation has become as it is. Photo: Rune Stoltz Bertinussen/Scanpix – The deficit will grow UNN has a total of 380 vacancies. 100 of these are critical. – This gives us the need to hire extra. And it is clear that it is an expensive way to run a hospital, says chairman Roald Linaker to news. Jan Eivind Pettersen, who is a shop steward in the trade union Delta, says today’s decision will slow down development. But he does not foresee this year’s deficit stopping at 250 million. – We have a number of specialists that we have to have. And we have to continue to hire from agencies, or use overtime. We cannot get away from that when we have so many gaps in the duty schedule. Pettersen also sits on the UNN board. – It’s like a boat where the nuglen is out. We fill up, but it runs out at the bottom, he says. The lack of health personnel is not unique to UNN or Northern Norway. Expenditure on laboratory supplies has increased by NOK 34.6 million at the UNN hospitals. Photo: UNN – Switching to staffing agencies Now the UNN hospitals have to tighten up – hard. The measures that have been adopted are dramatic: This was adopted: Immediate halt in hiring from staffing agencies. Exceptions are made for a minimum of hiring critical specialist expertise. All non-critical purchases are stopped immediately. Critical assessment before using variable pay. A hiring freeze will be introduced in all staff functions. All travel activities are limited to a minimum. All internal conversions are halted. Social gatherings are canceled for the rest of the year. Exceptions must be clarified with the director. The decisions have no time limit, according to Schumacher. According to her, stopping hired workers is the most important measure to get the economy under control. The hospital has become dependent on this type of workforce, but will now tighten up hard. Certain departments are up to 40 percent let. – We have an increasing number of people who leave us and start working in temp agencies, from whom we in turn buy services, said the director. Last week, news was able to tell about a nurse who can earn up to NOK 45,000 a week by working in such staffing agencies: Patients are affected Patient organizations are concerned about the offer to users. Among these is the Cancer Society. In the short term, the board says that it should not affect the patients. What I am more worried about is what happens in the long term, says district leader Brage Larsen Sollund. – We will follow the inquiries we receive about how the situation develops. There is also great concern within psychiatry. – For many years there has been a great shortage of specialists and senior doctors in psychiatry. A stop there will destroy some of the quality and make it less prudent to provide treatment because there is a lack of competence. That’s what Ole-Marius Minde Johnsen says, who is county leader in Mental Health. – If you do not have the competence required by the legislation and which is expected in the specialist health service, then it is not proper health care, he believes. Relentless price increase In the budget, the hospital has taken into account a price increase of 1.5 per cent. In reality, growth has been 6.5 per cent, the highest since the 1980s. This alone has created expenses of 40.9 million extra, according to financial manager Lars Øverås. Among the consequences of the situation is a postponement of the badly needed construction of a new psychiatric hospital. The UNN hospitals are located in Tromsø, Harstad, Narvik and Longyearbyen. There will now be major cuts in operations. Photo: University Hospital Northern Norway – How long the construction of UNN Åsgård is postponed depends on the economic development, says Schumaker. It is at least a year. At the same time, the profit from the sale of the cream plot Åsgårdmarka in Tromsø has been kept out of the accounts, according to Øverås. In January, the municipality decided to buy it for NOK 407 million.
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cut in temporary hire – news Troms and Finnmark
