The matter in summary: In order to introduce the Health Platform in Møre and Romsdal, the health insurance company will have to borrow hundreds of nurses and doctors. They can only borrow from St. Olavs and Helse Nord-Trøndelag, as they are the ones who have experience with the computer system. Trustees at these hospitals are not sure if anyone will take on extra work in another county. Those who take on the extra shifts will receive bonuses. This is expected to cost Helse Møre and Romsdal several tens of millions. According to the plan, the Health Platform will be introduced in a few weeks. – We lack a lot of professionals here, says the trustee at St. Olavs. In a few weeks, the controversial Helseplattforma computer system will be introduced in Møre and Romsdal. In order to get help in the start-up, the 240 health workers must be bused in to the four hospitals in the county during the busiest week. And the health personnel can only be obtained from the one place where they have experience with the Health Platform – the hospital in Trøndelag. Manpower shortages and vulnerable, small professional environments are the most important challenges. If Helse Møre og Romsdal does not get replenished with trønders, the entire introduction of the computer system may be postponed, it was revealed at a board meeting of the health association on Wednesday. When the company’s employees have to learn the medical record system, Helse Møre og Romsdal simply lacks people to treat patients. Don’t you understand the whole thing about the Health Platform and why a computer system is so controversial? You can read up here. This is how the need for hiring extra personnel looks like. The need is greatest on the days the Health Platform is introduced. But the manpower shortage starts before Easter and stretches through the summer and into August. Graphics: Helse Møre og Romsdal The expertise is to be found at St. Olav’s Director of Helse Møre og Romsdal, Olav Lødemel, is resoundingly clear that they need help if the Health platform is to be introduced. And he knows where the help must come from. – Those who can help us work at St. Olav’s hospital. They are the ones who have expertise in the Health Platform, said Lødemel. The conclusion is that the risk can be managed if Helse Møre og Romsdal gets hold of the extra doctors and nurses they need. Director of Helse Møre og Romsdal, Olav Lødemel, is quite clear that Helse Møre og Romsdal needs help from Helse Nord-Trøndelag and St. Olav’s hospital in order for the risk of introducing the Health Platform to be acceptable. Photo: Remi Sagen / news Uncertain if St. Olav’s will help There has not yet been a clear signal on how employees at St. Olav’s hospital can come to help Møre and Romsdal Health with the introduction of the Health Platform. The computer system has been introduced at this hospital in Trondheim and the process has been very conflicted. Vivi Bakkeheim, company representative in the senior medical association at St. Olavs, says that many doctors already work a lot, but that it cannot be ruled out that some will be able to stand up. – Do you think there are people who will do it? – Here at St. Olavs, people are already quite tired, so one has to travel to another county and work there… It doesn’t sound very lucrative, but we will now have to wait and see, says Bakkenheim. Vivi Bakkeheim is a corporate trustee in the association of senior doctors at St. Olav’s hospital in Trondheim. Photo: Bent Lindsetmo / news Corporate trustee for Younger doctors’ association at St. Olav’s, Kathrine Wågø, says they are already in a stressful situation at their own hospitals at the moment. – In addition, there are major savings and cuts here and the risk of downsizing. We lack a lot of professionals here and have problems filling the line at work, especially for doctors, says Wågø. – I feel it is a burden placed on employees, both in Møre and Romsdal and at St. Olavs. It is perceived as very wrong, instead of Helse Midt-Noreg taking responsibility and postponing the solution. The board of Helse Møre og Romsdal had set aside two hours to familiarize themselves with the issue of the Health Platform. This proved not to be enough. Photo: Remi Sagen / news Based on voluntariness HR director at Health Møre og Romsdal, Kjetil Lundberg, says that the arrangement with health personnel from Trøndelag to help Møre og Romsdal will be a voluntary arrangement. A bonus scheme has been introduced where employees at St. Olav’s hospital and Helse Nord-Trøndelag will be paid extra if they work for a period in Møre og Romsdal. – It will be hard work for the administrations both in Helse Møre and Romsdal and at St. Olav’s hospital to make this happen, says chairman Ingve Theodorsen. And the bonuses will come at a cost. The cost of only hiring nurses during the introduction period is NOK 37 million. And then the doctors are not included in the calculation. Department director Erik Solligård believes that it is especially the staffing in the emergency department at the four hospitals in Møre and Romsdal that must be increased, as this is the most critical. Would like to postpone the introduction The appointed representatives on the board wanted to decide to postpone the introduction of the Health platform no. They indicated that the level of risk when introducing the system is very high. – There will be a reduced health offer. This affects the patients. We are very worried, says employee representative Torgeir Sand Aas. He does not believe that Helse Møre og Romsdal will be able to recruit enough trønders so that the health platform can be introduced in a proper way. – We can hope that it will work, says Aas. But it is not just the number of doctors and nurses that worries him. Because a doctor is not just a doctor. – It doesn’t help with two neurologists if we need two gastrosurgeons, or vice versa, says Torgeir Sand Aas. – We see that there is a very big risk in introducing the Helseplattform noTorgeir Sand Aas Deputy representative, Helse Møre og Romsdal Dialog The board decided that Helse Møre og Romsdal now enters into a dialogue with Helse Midt-Noreg, St. Olav’s hospital and Helse Nord-Trøndelag to ensure enough personnel for patient care in the introduction phase. The health platform The health platform is a record system that is planned to be used by the entire public healthcare system in central Norway. The computer system also facilitates interaction between municipalities and hospitals. Eventually, the intention is also to connect the GPs in Central Norway. The project is based on technology from the American company Epic Systems. But extensive work has been carried out to prepare the system for the Norwegian healthcare system. The company Helseplattforma AS was established on 1 March 2019 and is owned by Helse Midt-Noreg and several municipalities. A number of experts, both within information technology, health and public administration, have been critical of the choice of technical solution for the Health Platform throughout large parts of the process. The health platform was introduced in Trondheim municipality in April 2022. As of autumn 2023, the vast majority of residents in the region live in a municipality that has either introduced the health platform or decided that they will introduce the solution. In November 2022, the health platform was introduced at St. Olav’s hospital. The plan is for Helse Møre og Romsdal to follow in April 2024 and Helse Nord-Trøndelag in November 2024. In 2024, around 20 municipalities have also adopted the solution.
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Have to borrow a hundred doctors to introduce controversial computer system
