– It is very painful to succumb to your own illness. Maria Bjørkli from Fredrikstad has long struggled with an eating disorder and anxiety. During the pandemic, the disease got worse. But the 21-year-old dreams of getting an education. She has spent a long time preparing to move away from home. Last autumn she packed her suitcase and moved to Tromsø. Special education studies were expected. – I was very ready and really looking forward to it. Notified before moving Before the moving load left in August, the healthcare system in Tromsø was notified. Bjørkli received a decision from the University Hospital of Northern Norway. It said that she was to have an appointment at the Adult Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic (VVP) in Tromsø in September. But there was never a summons with a date and time. The time she should have spent on lectures and colloquium groups was spent waiting for treatment. Time and again she contacted the hospital to find out when she could expect to have an appointment. Maria Bjørkli experienced that the illness got worse during her time in Tromsø. Photo: Rahand Bazaz / news – I was in tears on the phone and asked if they could say whether it was about a one or three month waiting period, she says. Alone in a strange city and without treatment, the disease worsened. She never got an answer to when she could get help. Bjørkli moved home to Fredrikstad to get support from his family. She tried to follow the course online, but in January she had to drop out. The call to class never came. The hospital: – Regrettable Statistics from the Directorate of Health show that the average waiting time from the time the referral is received in the specialist health service until the health care has started is 50.4 days for adults at national level. This is an increase of 4.4 days compared to 2021. At the VVP outpatient clinic in Tromsø, the waiting time is even longer: – Many patients will experience having to wait up to three to four months longer than the deadline set for the right to necessary healthcare. This is obviously very unfortunate and undesirable, writes clinic manager Eirik Stellander at the UNN mental health and drug addiction clinic in an e-mail to news. Clinic manager Eirik Stellander says the clinic works actively and continuously to reduce the waiting time. Photo: Rune Stoltz Bertinussen / Krysspress The hospital believes that the information they received in the referral about Maria Bjørkli did not give grounds to suspect serious mental illness, and that she was described as having relatively good functional capacity. Therefore, she was also not considered to be among the patient category that is given the highest priority. – It is sad to hear that the patient felt that she had to interrupt her studies due to a lack of health care, and it is regrettable that VPP Tromsø was unable to comply with the rights deadline, says Stellander. – The patient’s experience is a reminder that a lack of capacity and long waiting lists can have significant negative consequences for patients waiting for necessary healthcare. Frp: – Unacceptable The Progressive Party believes that the current waiting times for mental health care are cause for concern. – It is unacceptable with such a long waiting time. It worries me, because I see that there is a sharp increase in the number of young people who need help due to eating disorders, says health policy spokesperson Bård Hoksrud. Bård Hoksrud (Frp) is concerned about the number of young people struggling with eating disorders. Photo: Marit Sirum-Eikre / news He is reacting to the fact that the government has cut several low-threshold services, such as counseling on eating disorders (ROS). – I find it incredibly sad and it provokes me that offers such as ROS have their entire support cut, if no extra money comes in the last round. This means that there will be even more pressure, even more demand on the treatment offer, and it is not there, because they have not managed to build it up. Now he expects the government and health organizations to take action. Points to a backlog from the pandemic – Nobody wants someone to be on a waiting list, but then the waiting times have increased and that is regrettable, says Tove Elise Madland (Ap). Madland says that the healthcare institutions are in a demanding situation where they lack personnel and that the hospitals are still suffering from a backlog from the pandemic. Tove Elise Madland sits on the health and care committee at the Storting. Photo: Stortinget – Unfortunately, we also know that the number of young girls with eating disorders has escalated, but we take it seriously and invest the resources and funds we have. The number of inquiries about children and young people struggling with eating disorders skyrocketed during the pandemic. On 9 June, the government presented an escalation plan which will set the direction for the entire mental health field over the next ten years. – We told the health authorities early on that mental health should be a priority, and especially children and young people. So I think we are completely there, and with the escalation plan I think we are on our way to something better, says Madland. Felt forgotten Maria Bjørkli felt she was forgotten by the healthcare system in Tromsø. Now she wants the system to become more predictable. – I was shocked by how unpredictable it was. I felt very alone. When she moved home to Fredrikstad, she quickly got an appointment with DPS. – It is a safety net that could have helped me during my studies, she says. Bjørkli had to implement her plan B. Ideally, she would have completed the special education studies, but now she has applied for nursing at home in Østfold. – In that sense, it’s going well. But for those who do not have a plan B, and only have one dream study, it is incredibly difficult.
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Long waiting times for mental health care – news Oslo and Viken – Local news, TV and radio
