New Stavanger University Hospital (New SUS) is Norway’s largest construction project. The first construction phase will cost 11.3 billion and be ready for occupancy during 2024. Now the giant project is heading towards a budget gap of 450 million kroner. But there is a danger that this is just the beginning. This is what several key former middle managers on the project that news has spoken to say. They talk about poor management, lack of project management and a harassing work environment. A former project manager announced this in the summer of 2021. He also announced that it would all end in large budget gaps if no action was taken. – I think there will be much larger cracks than this, the whistleblower told news today. The man was reported sick after the notification and is currently unemployed. He has a long career in the construction industry and was hired to take care of two large construction contracts at the new hospital. He does not want his name and picture in print, but Helse Stavanger is well acquainted with the warning. New Stavanger University Hospital Norway’s largest construction project. According to the plan, the first construction phase will be ready sometime in 2024 and has a price tag of NOK 11.3 billion. Originally, the plan was for all the business to be moved from the current hospital on Våland to the new building on Ullandhaug by 2030, but now the final relocation date is completely in the blue. The first construction phase is planned to be 125,000 square meters and have 640 private rooms with private bathrooms. The second construction phase is estimated to cost 11.1 billion in 2021 kroner and be 100,000 square meters. Sources: Helse Stavanger Just got to read a little Last year, Helse Stavanger hired the consulting company BDO to carry out an investigation of the warning. It all ended with a secret report. news has complained about the secrecy, but has been rejected by the Ministry of Health and Care Services. Nor has the whistleblower been allowed to read the entire report. In November last year, he was allowed to meet the CEO of Helse Stavanger, Helle K. Schøyen, in his office and read selected passages from the report. He was not allowed to take pictures. The new Stavanger University Hospital at Ullandhaug will cost at least NOK 22.4 billion and have a total area of over 220,000 square meters. But there is a great danger that only half the hospital will be operational for a long time. Photo: Rolv Christian Topdahl / news Helse Stavanger says the reason is that in a notification case, only the person or persons to whom the notification is addressed, or the case directly applies, have the right to access. The whistleblower says he has some insight into the work with the report. He does not trust that the hospital and BDO have sufficiently investigated the problems with the project implementation. Neither the whistleblower nor the other employees that news has spoken to believe that the first construction phase will be completed during 2024. – When you work as a project manager, you should always know when a project is finished and what price it will end up at. Here they do not know when they are finished, nor do they know what the price will be in the end. What is wrong An important part of the warning is inadequate follow-up of contracts. The whistleblower got a job at Nye SUS in the spring of 2020. The reason they wanted him, according to himself, was that he had weight and was able to resist tough entrepreneurs. The relationship between the developer Helse Stavanger and the contractors was characterized by “kindness”, according to the whistleblower. The one contract he was given responsibility for is said to have had several serious shortcomings. This created noise between the whistleblower and the contractor. – Then I was told by the project management to relax the requirements for the contractor. He claims 25 people have left or lost their jobs at Nye SUS since 2018. news has spoken to several of them. Everyone wants to be anonymous. Several describe a work environment characterized by harassment, freezing and a culture of fear. According to the whistleblower, there are several key functions that have not been replaced as a result of the man-fall. This concerns middle management positions related to, among other things, control. – Who then has the bag role in this project? he asks. – Serious CEO of Helse Stavanger, Helle K. Schøyen, emphasizes that they take the allegations of poor working environment and harassment seriously. The director says the health trust knew about the allegations before BDO started the investigation. Helle K. Schøyen, CEO of Helse Stavanger. Photo: Rolv Christian Topdahl / news – At that time, we were already conducting our own investigations into what the dissatisfaction was based on and working on measures. The BDO report concludes that no individuals have violated the Working Environment Act, but that there is a violation of the Working Environment Act § 4–1 and the requirement for a «fully justifiable» working environment. The sum of different burdens for a proportion of the employees and employees, and for the working environment as a whole, has been too great. It is serious, and we must work actively to correct it, she says. Regarding how many have left, she answers the following: – In the last year, eight people have left the construction project. It is normal in such a large project organization as this, says the director. However, Schøyen cannot say on his feet whether the various positions have been replaced with new dedicated positions. – But we have of course covered all functions, she says. Gets support Group leader for Frp in Stavanger, Leif Arne Moi Nilsen, was among the politicians who were sent the warning in the summer of 2021. – I have feared these exceedances after everything I have been told in the last year, but it is quite brutal to know it so suddenly. overnight how much money has been spent here, he says. Leif Arne Moi Nilsen, group leader for Frp in Stavanger. Photo: Rolv Christian Topdahl / news Moi Nilsen is particularly concerned about construction phase 2. Originally, the plan was for the construction of phase 2 to be completed in 2030 (see facts). The idea was then to run a two-part hospital for the five years when only construction phase 1 is completed. But now all this is in the blue. The budget gap means that Nye SUS risks having to use money that should actually have gone to equity for construction phase 2, to service the cost overrun. Thus, it is completely uncertain when the construction of construction phase 2 can start. There is therefore a danger that Helse Stavanger will have to run a two-part hospital indefinitely. It is the health trust itself that must finance large parts of the construction. Moi Nilsen thinks it will be especially difficult when Helse Stavanger will also run a shared hospital. There will probably be hospital operations at the “old” hospital on Våland in Stavanger for many years to come. Photo: Rolv Christian Topdahl / news – I do not see how they will be able to save on operations when they will run two hospitals instead of one. CEO Helle K. Schøyen has previously told news that postponing relocation can hurt worse. – It may require investments in old buildings that you really want to move from. It can amplify the challenge. Asks the Minister of Health to clean up Due to the budget gap, several local politicians have asked Minister of Health Ingvild Kjerkol (Labor Party) to allocate more money to the project, which the Minister has rejected. Now the Conservatives are also on the field. Storting representative Sveinung Stensland has asked the Minister of Health to provide a justification for the cost overruns. Leif Arne Moi Nilsen believes that we must first and foremost get a review of the giant project. – Before we pump a single new crown into the project, we must know the following: Is this project on track? What will construction phase 1 cost, and what will construction phase 2 cost? – A real challenge – This is a real challenge, says Helle K. Schøyen to news. The Director of Health, Stavanger, acknowledges that there are many challenges with the construction of the New CIS, but emphasizes that the pandemic and the war in Ukraine are the main reasons for the possible cost overruns. The pandemic and the war have led to supply problems and inflation – which in turn makes goods more expensive, according to the director. Schøyen can not rule out that there will be more budget cracks in the future. – We can make estimates of how high inflation will be in the future, but there will be a good deal of uncertainty associated with this. But it is clear: If inflation is significantly higher than what economists nationally predict, it will lead to cost overruns because it is beyond our control, she says. – The whistleblower and former employees think poor project management also plays a role? Schøyen highlights the BDO report and an internal audit from Deloitte. The latter was carried out on behalf of Helse Vest and was about financial management of construction projects in Helse Vest. – The report from Deloitte concluded that there was good management of the project, and BDO concluded that there was no support for the allegations related to the actual implementation of the construction project, with the exception that questions of impartiality can be questioned in one of five allegations. This was a thorough investigation based on interviews with whistleblowers and with those who whistleblowers designated, alerted and a number of other sources, she says. Read the entire response from Helse Stavanger in the fact box below. Danger of shared hospital for many years Despite the budget gap, Helse Stavanger sticks to the goal of starting construction for construction phase 2 during 2024. But for that to happen, Helse Stavanger must have equity to get new loans. In principle, the income from the sale of the site on Våland, where the hospital is located today, will be equity, but the money must now possibly be used to cover cost overruns at construction stage 1. – The overruns at construction stage 1 have the consequence that we have to build cheaper in construction phase 1, or we have to sell the site on Våland to cover additional costs, which in that case means that we have to start later with construction phase 2, says CFO Tor Albert Ersdal. If Helse Stavanger is to avoid using the money from the Våland site, then building cheaper is one option. Another is to save enough money on the actual operation of the hospital. The only problem is that the hospital so far this year is NOK 125 million behind budget. According to Ersdal, Helse Stavanger will receive around 40 million in support due to the corona, so the real backlog is just over 80 million kroner as of the end of April. – The pandemic has meant that we have spent more money on running the hospital than we have had original budgets for, and we have correspondingly lost income, says CEO Helle K. Schøyen. She still believes that they can save a lot on the operation – even though the operation will be divided between Våland and Ullandhaug. – In a hospital with 8 billion in operating budget and 8000 employees, there is potential for savings if we can do things in other ways. For example, we are constantly using new digital solutions, says Schøyen. – But with a minus on the operating budget and an increase in the cost of the construction project, will this not be easy? – This is a real challenge, we do not hide it, says Schøyen.
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Former employees talk about harassment, freezing and culture of fear – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
