– It is completely unacceptable that people with dementia receive even stronger medication because you do not have enough staff. This is according to deputy chairman of the health and care committee at the Storting, Bård Hoksrud (FRP). He says it’s about dignity, also for people with dementia. The Norwegian Nurses Association has recently told news that antipsychotics are given to people with dementia in nursing homes, when there are few employees at work and without a professional reason. Such tablets can only be given in cases of severe psychosis and severe anxiety. – It must be medically justified, and must not be linked to the staffing situation, states Health Minister Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap). The Minister of Health will now roll out a new digital solution so that patients (and possibly relatives) can check which medicines are being given at any time. Clean-up required in the municipalities Bård Hoksrud believes that the management in the municipalities must take responsibility for proper use of medicine in nursing homes. – I believe that the municipalities must clean up. We cannot accept that patients receive medication because there is not enough staffing. Then the municipalities are not doing their job, he says. He expects action. – The municipalities must ensure that staffing is put in place so that those who live in nursing homes will receive good and dignified treatment, he says. He says that it is serious that this type of medicine is given to patients who do not need it. – It is about dignity, and even if you have become demented, you must have respect for the human dignity and the person you are, says Hoksrud. Deputy chairman of the Health and Care Committee at the Storting, Bård Hoksrud, says the municipality’s management is responsible for ensuring that staffing does not control tablet use in nursing homes. Photo: Lars Tore Endresen / news Department director for health and welfare in KS, Åse L. Snåre, is not aware that it is a general practice that tablets are given without a professional reason. – The normal is not low basic staffing – but, in pressured situations and with high sickness absence and many substitutes, challenging situations can arise, says Snåre. More types of personnel are needed SV has recently put forward a proposal in the Storting to have a requirement for the number of employees who will work in elderly care in the municipalities. Health Minister Kjerkol believes that a staffing standard is not the solution to ensure that basic staffing in nursing homes is good enough. She says that an escalation plan in the state budget this year will help to secure full and permanent positions. – Here there must be a correct assessment based on the local conditions and a basic staffing that is adapted to the residents you have in each individual nursing home. Then you need to use several personnel groups. We need more healthcare workers who can work well with the nurses, she says. Head of the Health Personnel Commission, Gunnar Bovim, hands over the report to Ola Borten Moe, Minister of Research and Education and Minister of Health Ingvild Kjerkol. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB Kjerkol has just been handed the report from the health personnel commission, which points to the division of tasks and the use of different types of expertise. – Restaurant hosts, music therapists, activists – there are different skills needed to create meaningful everyday lives for those who live in nursing homes and need the security that institutions provide, she says. Environmental measures must always be tested before tablets are given to people with dementia. It is what creates peace and security. The Minister of Health cannot promise that minimum requirements will be set for activities in nursing homes. – Now we are going to put forward a comprehensive elderly reform this spring, where one of the pillars is activity and mobilization of the surrounding local communities. So that music therapy, activities such as needlework and more can help to stimulate the lives of those living in nursing homes, she says. Environmental measures and activities must always be tested before using medicines such as antipsychotics in elderly people with dementia. Photo: Eivind Aabakken Will roll out the patient’s medication list news has received a lot of feedback after we told about the high use of antipsychotics in Norwegian nursing homes. Three women with dementia suffered serious side effects such as crooked backs at a nursing home in Namsos. The spouses did not understand what was happening and that the tablets were the cause. – It is very important to get a good overview of all medication use, and therefore we require nursing homes to have regular drug reviews of their patients, says Health Minister Ingvild Kjerkol. A new national offer is now being planned so that patients themselves can keep track of which medicines they receive at all times. – We work with the patient’s medication list, which is a digital solution for all patients. It should contribute to us having a good overview of the use of medicines. It is now being tested in Bergen, and we now want it to be rolled out to all residents and all patients, she says. The introduction of the patient’s medication list will start in 2024 and will be in place in most municipalities during 2029. Want transparency about medication use Studies show that there are large differences in how much antipsychotics are given to patients with dementia in Norwegian nursing homes. But there is no overview. The government has now increased the allocation to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) by NOK 10 million. – We will expand the drug register to include drug use by patients in institutions. In the first instance, it will apply to use in hospitals, but the aim is a complete register in the long term. It should give us a better overview of the use of medicine in nursing homes. The work will start this year, says Health Minister Ingvild Kjerkol. She says that it is important to be transparent and knowledgeable about drug use in nursing homes.
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Health Minister Ingvild Kjerkol is critical of tablets being given when nursing homes are understaffed – news Trøndelag
