The matter in summary – The University Hospital of Northern Norway (UNN) expects major financial challenges in 2024, with a deficit of around NOK 100 million so far this year. – Lack of health personnel, missed deadlines and price and wage growth are among the biggest challenges, according to the CEO Anita Schumacher. – UNN is not the only hospital in Helse Nord that is struggling financially. All the hospitals in Helse Nord have large deficits. – Minister of Health Ingvild Kjerkol has asked Helse Nord to make cuts and changes due to a lack of health personnel and a financial deficit. – Head of the User Committee at UNN, Terje Olsen, expresses concern that UNN will not able to provide the necessary services to the population within the deadlines that have been set. – Olsen fears that waiting times and the number of deadline breaches may increase again next year, which could lead to patients not receiving the offer they should have within the deadline. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality assured by news’s ​​journalists before publication. – We will struggle with the same challenges we have now in 2024. And this year we will be in the red a lot. This is according to the CEO of the University Hospital of Northern Norway (UNN), Anita Schumacher. On Tuesday, UNN will adopt the budget for 2024. It does not look bright. In November alone, the result is close to 40 million in the red. For the year to date, the deficit is around NOK 100 million. The CEO of UNN, Anita Schumacher, refers to the budget for 2024 as a high-risk budget in the board papers. Photo: HANS ANDREASSEN Schumacher says that the challenges are about a lack of health personnel, missed deadlines, and price and wage growth. – We use a lot of hiring, and temporary workers are expensive. When we are unable to give patients an appointment within the deadline, private individuals end up with the task. They send us the bill. We have received some compensation for the price increase, but not for everything. It is the lack of healthcare personnel that is the biggest expense for the hospital. – This means that we incur costs for breaking the deadline, and that we have to have hire and expensive overtime solutions. Several hospitals are in the red UNN, like the other hospitals in northern Norway, is organized under the health organization Helse Nord. With their deficit of close to NOK 100 million this year, they are actually best in class. In August this year, Nordlandssykehuset had a deficit of NOK 138 million. Helgeland’s hospital could end up with a deficit of 180 million for the year. Finnmark’s hospital is estimated to be 178 million too short in 2023. Health Nord has been asked by the Minister of Health Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap) to make cuts and changes due to a lack of health personnel and a thunderous financial deficit. In the board papers, UNN describes the situation as that they have not succeeded in resolving the entire restructuring. Nor does Helse Nord seem to be able to meet the changes the Minister of Health has ordered. In an internal document that has been leaked to news, the chairman of Helse Nord, Marit Lind, describes that they are not reaching their goal with the change. Marit Lind is CEO of Helse Nord. Photo: Bente H.Johansen “Regardless of what changes are made in the division of functions and tasks, Helse Nord, even with the most personnel- and financial-saving alternatives, will not be close to being able to ensure the necessary sustainability going forward”. This is despite the fact that the health organization has received NOK 240 million in extra grants from the government to improve recruitment. Consequences for patients Terje Olsen is head of the User Committee at UNN, and sits as an observer on the board. He is concerned after reading the CEO’s description of the financial outlook for next year. – I interpret it to mean that there is a risk that UNN will not be able to provide the services they need to the population within the deadlines that have been set, says Olsen. He points out that in recent years UNN has taken several measures to reduce waiting times and the number of deadline breaches. Now he fears that it could increase again until next year. Terje Olsen is head of the User Committee at UNN. He is worried about the consequences of the bad economy. Photo: Private – This means that in some cases you have to buy services from private service providers, which cost a lot of money and means that you have even tighter financial limits at UNN. Olsen highlights the package processes for cancer, which the Minister of Health Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap) has also expressed concern about this autumn. – Longer waiting times will result in patients not getting the offer they should have within the time limit. This of course gives cause for concern for the patients, says Olsen.
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– Going to be in the red a lot – news Troms and Finnmark
