The case in summary: – The psychiatry and addiction clinic in Tromsø is in a bad state, but the hospital cannot afford to build a new one.- The plans to build a new hospital have been in the works since 2017, but are now on hold due to financial challenges.- Health Nord, which owns the University Hospital of Northern Norway, is running at a loss and therefore cannot apply for loans for new buildings. – In the meantime, existing buildings must be upgraded, which costs NOK 275 million over three years. – An alternative plan is to realize new buildings step by step, which could make it possible to start earlier despite the deficits. – An expert committee has proposed reducing the equity requirement to 10 per cent, which could affect all the building projects planned in Helse Nord. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. – In some places the bathrooms and showers are so old that they are unappetizing to use, even though I know they are clean, says Tonje Merete Wilhelmsen Moe (40). Moe tells news about the conditions at the University Hospital of Northern Norway (UNN) addiction and psychiatry clinic at Åsgård in Tromsø. In the last ten years, she has been admitted here several times due to a bipolar disorder. Some stays have been planned, others urgent. – It matters how it looks around us, both for the patients and the employees, says Moe. When the hospital opened more than 60 years ago, it was state-of-the-art. Now the wall is cracking and moisture is penetrating through both walls and roof. In winter, it is difficult to get the indoor temperature above 16 degrees in parts of the hospital. According to the plan, the new hospital was to be ready in 2029, and cost NOK 2.7 billion. But for now, the project is on hold. In deficit No one knows when UNN will have the money to apply for loans to build new buildings. – We must ensure that the economy is in balance before we can submit loan applications, says Renate Larsen, chairman of Helse Nord. It is Helse Nord that owns UNN and the other health institutions in Northern Norway. Renate Larsen, chairman of Helse Nord. Photo: Ingvild Vik / news At the board meeting in November, managing director Marit Lind presented figures showing that Helse Nord has run a loss of NOK 239 million so far this year. UNN accounts for almost 58 million of these. How hospital construction is financed Today, hospital construction is financed through equity and loans. Therefore, the hospitals must use the money they receive for operations to save equity capital. In order to get a loan from the state, they must first have money to cover 30 percent equity. They then pay interest on the loan until it is paid off, just like you and I do with our loans. This is not the case in other parts of the public sector, such as in higher education. There, investments in new buildings are financed through money from the state budget. In March, an expert committee submitted a report to Minister of Health and Care Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap), which among other things deals with the financing model. They propose to reduce the equity requirement to 10 percent. Building damage triggered Moe says that she has to replace her contact lenses with glasses if she is to be hospitalized for more than two weeks because the air quality is so bad that she gets dry eyes. She emphasizes that she thinks the conditions are particularly bad for the employees. – The patients are not necessarily hospitalized for that long, but for those who work there it must be burdensome. Tonje Merete Wilhelmsen Moe believes the conditions are affecting both patients and staff. Photo: Ingvild Vik / news For Moe, the old, tired and partly damaged buildings have been a trigger. – I have seen injuries that have made me start to wonder how they have arisen. This can make you quite insecure and uneasy. She adds: – When you are at your worst, your imagination is perhaps even stronger than usual. – There is a great deal here that is far from the standard you should be able to expect in modern healthcare, says Njål Bjørhovde. He is a psychiatric nurse and project manager for Nye UNN Åsgård. Together with the clinic manager at Åsgård, he shows us around the hospital. Today, parts of the building are out of order because the standard is far too poor. The building is empty of health personnel and patients. Only the occasional craftsman is at work renovating here now. – What we do here are emergency repairs. We have no plans to use this building in the new project, says Bjørhovde. Helse Nord has decided to spend NOK 275 million over three years on refurbishing old buildings. Several of them are scheduled to be demolished soon. – The renovation is only to ensure that they maintain sufficient quality from a construction point of view, says clinic manager Erik Stellander. Clinic manager at UNN Åsgård Erik Stellander believes the planned renovation at Åsgård will not improve patient care. Photo: Ingvild Vik / news – The upgrades will not lead to better and more suitable areas for patient treatment. Bjørhovde believes the buildings are not able to meet the needs of modern health services. He says that unrest easily spreads in the buildings – despite the fact that many patients need just calm. – It is difficult to find places to be alone here if you want to shield yourself from others. This is what it looks like in several places at Åsgård hospital. Salt penetrates through the wall in the entrance area. The window frames are also characterized by moisture damage. An emergency exit is closed due to construction work. In several places the building mass is crumbling up. Plan B Clinic manager Stellander says that UNN is now looking at the possibility of a more gradual realization of new buildings, which could make it possible to start earlier – despite the deficits. – We are in dialogue with Helse Nord to see if a more step-by-step construction process can enable us to get started on the new building, instead of spending a lot of money and time on the old buildings, he says. This means that they may be able to divide the project more than planned, and that Helse Nord can therefore apply for a loan for a smaller part than originally intended. Last week UNN and Helse Nord met to discuss these plans. Moe believes that it is strange and a shame that UNN has to spend money on renovating buildings that will anyway be demolished. – If it is the case that many millions will almost simply be thrown on the landfill in a few years, then it is a bit provocative. UNN Åsgård has been in use as a psychiatric hospital for more than 60 years. Photo: Simen Wingstad / news Now she hopes that a more permanent upgrade of the hospital can soon be started. – If not, I don’t think the new hospital will be ready until my eight-year-old has completed his education.
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Have to spend hundreds of millions on a hospital ready to be demolished – news Troms and Finnmark
