– Traveling in the summer is always demanding, but it has gone from difficult to completely impossible. That’s what the mayor of Vågan municipality in Lofoten says. – I noticed it myself two weeks ago, when I was going to accompany my son to the hospital in Bodø. The flight over the Vestfjord takes no more than half an hour, but getting a seat on the plane can be demanding. Something the Vågan mayor got to feel on his body. Because when he was going to Bodø, he could only fly one way – from Svolvær to Bodø. According to Benjaminsen, the tickets were ordered two weeks in advance. However, finding free plane seats back home was not as easy. In the end, they had to take the Hurtigruten home to Lofoten – a trip of over eight hours. Nordlandssykehuset in Bodø treats patients from both Lofoten and Vesterålen, as well as some patients from Helgelandssykehuset in the south of Nordland. Photo: Simon Skjelvik Brandseth / news – Then we had to end the class at the hospital 45 minutes before what was actually planned, simply because we had to catch the boat. – What did the health personnel at the hospital say when you suddenly had to leave? – It seemed that they were used to it, says the mayor. And Benjaminsen is not the only one who is frustrated. Right-wing top: Expecting action from the government On 1 April, the government halved the prices on the so-called FOT routes, routes in the districts for which the state pays for parts in order to have a flight offer. Even then, both mayors, the Ministry of Transport and Widerøe were out and airing concerns – to a greater or lesser degree. And now many of the concerns have come to fruition. Just under a week in advance, all departures from Bodø to Svolvær in Lofoten are sold out. Photo: Screen dump Widerøe news wrote on Monday about Roy Otto, who due to the flight routes had to travel 13.5 hours for a short consultation at the University Hospital of Northern Norway (UNN) in Tromsø. He is not alone, which has led to the regional health organization Helse Nord sounding the alarm about patient travel in northern Norway. Recently, they sent a letter to the Ministry of Transport in which they discussed the challenges that have arisen. – The flight offer in Northern Norway is limited, and it has become more difficult after the changes that were made now from 1 April, said adviser responsible for patient travel in Helse Nord, Bernt Nerberg. The Ministry of Transport responded, among other things, that: Read the full response to the ministry at the bottom of the file. That answer caused Storting politician from Nordland, Bård Ludvig Thorheim (H), to react. – I saw that the Ministry of Transport said that this should “be fine”. I am appalled when I see these types of comments when you know that there are patients who have great difficulty just getting on the plane. Storting representative Bård Ludvig Thorheim (H) expects the government to take action on the FOT routes, after traffic has increased sharply on the offer. Photo: Benjamin Fredriksen / news He says that the Conservative Party got approval for the flight offer to be evaluated after the price reduction in the treatment of the National Transport Plan (NTP). – I expect the government to start with that work at once, and not talk about letting things go. He believes the government should have foreseen the problems that are now arising, and taken action before they arose. The ministry: It may be relevant to deploy more planes news has submitted the criticism from Thorheim to the Ministry of Transport and Communications, and asked questions about how long the ministry must wait before they can make a decision on whether there is a need for changes. State Secretary Tom Kalsås (Ap) replies that the government’s aim has been to make air fares cheaper so that people can travel more. – We have been open that one consequence is that there is great uncertainty when we make such a big move on price, and there may therefore be a need to make adjustments. Tom Kalsås (Ap) is state secretary in the Ministry of Transport. He says the government will now go through the scheme. Photo: Henning Rønhovde / news Initially, the ministry says it will receive statistics from Widerøe, which operates the vast majority of FOT routes in Norway. Here they want to see where there is the greatest pressure, so that they can assess measures together with the airline. – The initial statistics show that the number of full departures increased from 16 per cent to 21 per cent compared to last year, but there is probably greater pressure on popular departures, he says and adds: – It may therefore be relevant to deploy more aircraft when we sees the whole. Kalsås does not comment on when this might happen. Widerøe operates the vast majority of FOT routes in Norway. The airline DAT also has some routes. Photo: Marius Guttormsen / news In the longer term, the government will investigate the entire structure of the FOT route scheme. – Although we have prioritized more money for this, we do not necessarily get the results we want. Several have advocated introducing a resident scheme, so that permanent residents can sponsor part of the ticket price in the districts, which Kalsås says the ministry is considering. A similar model has been used in Spain. In addition, they will receive a professional assessment on how they can get the most possible flight offer out of every kroner spent. – The most important thing for us is to have a good offer at a cheap price. The people in the north deserve and need that, concludes State Secretary Kalsås. Read the full response from the Ministry of Transport and Communications “Pasient trips are an important user group of the FOT routes. In the preparations for the purchase of today’s FOT routes, thorough processes have been carried out back to 2022. Among other things, there have been separate rounds of input and a separate hearing by an external transport specialist investigation. The health institutions are involved via the county councils in all input rounds before the announcement of a new contract period. Before determining the final route programme, the operators have also obtained views from, among other things, municipalities, county councils, the airport operator and healthcare providers – among other things to best adapt the timetables to local wishes, within the framework of the agreements. As a result of this dialogue, among other things, a change was made to the routes that were initially supposed to facilitate day trips between Helgeland and Tromsø. The original change led to very early morning departures from the four airports on Helgeland, and in consultation with, among others, the Helgeland Council and the Arctic Circle Council, Widerøe chose to apply to be allowed to deviate from the requirement for an early landing in Bodø. The connection to Tromsø is now mainly solved with a transfer in Trondheim, which was also the case in the previous agreement period. The Ministry of Transport has a good dialogue with the Ministry of Health and Care about the patient travel offer, and we are aware that the healthcare organizations have a dialogue with the airlines that operate both FOT routes and commercial flight routes in Northern Norway, and that they follow the situation closely throughout the country. The offer must be allowed to work for some time before we can decide on any need for changes. In the short term, the Ministry of Transport and Communications follows up inquiries and other issues in the continuous contractual dialogue with the FOT operators – within the framework of the agreements, allocated funds and available aircraft capacity. With regard to the route offer in the longer term, we plan to carry out a study that will look at how the state can further develop and optimize the regional air route offer in Norway within the budget framework that is used on the FOT routes today.” Published 12.07.2024, at 07.44 Updated 12.07.2024, at 08.03
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Lofot mayor did not get home by plane after hospital visit in Bodø – news Nordland
