– Come to your senses. Henriksen is a patient at the district psychiatric center (DPS) in Tana. The news that the center is proposed to be closed down has made him insecure and cursed. Helse Nord received the reports from the working groups that have proposed changes and restructuring in the specialist health service in Northern Norway this week. One of the proposals is the closure of several DPSs, including in Eastern Finnmark and Northern Troms. – I think this is madness. Why shut down something that works really well? They take the lives of many of us. We have help nearby, and not 50 miles away, 100 miles away. It is a security for us, says Per Johan Henriksen to news. He has spent three weeks at the inpatient unit, which is the offer for mentally ill people in the municipalities in Eastern Finnmark. – Gets stupid, idiotic thoughts In the last four years, Per has been there many times. – I am a chronic pain patient. I stay down, have stupid idiotic thoughts because the pain is all over the place. I get suicidal thoughts, quite simply. And then it’s good to have someone behind you, he says. When news visits him at the center at Tana bridge, he feels in good shape. – It is close and there are no problems, and it is good to come here at short notice. Here I am within just over an hour with people who know me, and whom I know and trust. – Coming here has probably saved me, and it has probably saved many others too whom I have spoken to here, says the 64-year-old. SECURITY: Per Johan Henriksen is a patient at the district psychiatric center in Tana. Photo: Eilif Aslaksen / news The proposal to the working group is to strengthen the 24-hour service in the cities of Alta, Tromsø, Bodø and Mo i Rana. – The strengthening can be carried out by moving or discontinuing some DPS 24-hour services, the report states. Per Johan Henriksen shakes his head. He has been following the news over the past few weeks. 450 km to the nearest 24-hour unit – Traveling to other places for hours by plane, bus or car, it would not have been relevant for me. Then it would have been a good night, I was about to say, he says. For him, the nearest 24-hour unit may be 450 kilometers away. The working group proposes to move the ten 24-hour places that are now in Tana to Alta. – I was angry and cursed. What are they thinking? I was distraught. I will never travel as far as Karasjok, Alta or Troms. Never, says Per Johan. Helse Nord has been tasked with investigating the service offer by Minister of Health Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap). – What do you have to say to the Minister of Health about what is happening now, asks news patient Per Johan. – I just have to say to the Minister of Health that…yes, yes…welcome, but see your statistics before and after then. Because I think the suicide statistics that you want down, you don’t do that by putting down here. – If you are going to say something personally to the Minister of Health; what will it be – Come to your senses. See what you’re doing, see what you’re up to. Look at the people, don’t just look at the money, replies the 64-year-old from Vadsø. MINISTER: Ingvild Kjerkol. Photo: Per Sveinung Larsen / news The minister: – Real people get frustrated news has sent the entire quote from Per Johan Henriksen to the Ministry of Health and Care. At the same time, we have asked for an interview. – What will the Minister of Health say to Per and other patients who are currently receiving help from the DPS, is one of the questions. – For your case, you can quote Minister of Health and Care Ingvild Kjerkol, replies speech writer/senior advisor Simon Stjern in the communications unit in an email: – I understand that this process is difficult and that people get frustrated and worried, but if Helse Nord does not get done, it will have consequences for patient care in the entire region. Kjerkhol emphasizes that no decisions should be made without thorough consideration. – This is the job Helse Nord is now doing after these working groups have finished. Then there will be a broad hearing before I get the case. But changes are needed. The warning lights in Helse Nord have unfortunately been flashing for quite some time, says the minister in the e-mail reply. Nurse: – Outrageous Psychiatric nurse Marja Heikkinen managed to get the news that her workplace was proposed to be closed before she went on night duty. – It was outrageous, she says to news. The specialist nurse has worked at the inpatient unit in Tana since 2003. – It’s something you can’t take in. You try to push the thought away, but it comes back. It hurts. You can’t think clearly, she says. OUTRAGED: Psychiatric nurse Marja Heikkinen (TV) and social worker Magnhild Clemens. Photo: Eilif Aslaksen / news Heikkinen believes that many patients are exposed to an unpredictable future. She has no doubt that the patients will receive a good offer at the units that will eventually receive patients from Eastern Finnmark. – But it is not always the case that the patient will seek out these services. Traveling to the treatment is one of the things the patient dreads the most, and can be a reason why the person is so disturbed that he or she is unable to complete the treatment. Then the person stays at home, and does not come to admission, says Marja Heikkinen. – Everyone must be punished Socionomist Magnhild Clemens at DPS Tana calls the proposal from Helse Nord “the big centralization idea”. – I believe that it is not an improvement at all. Everyone must be punished, primarily the patients because they have a much longer journey. With mentally ill patients, it is not certain that they will be able to go to treatment when the distance is equivalent to Oslo-Trondheim, she says to news. – The district psychiatry is supposed to be an offer to the patient locally, but that is not what comes across in the centralization mindset. After all, the offer to the patients is moved from where they live, she says. LOCAL: Social worker Magnhild Clemens (former), psychiatric nurse Marja Heikkinen and Ellen Ingvild Heiberg at DPS in Tana. Photo: Eilif Aslaksen / news The Mental Health Organization follows closely what is happening in the north. – Must press the alarm button National leader Ole Marius Minde Johnsen believes a lot is at stake for mental health care at the moment, not just in Northern Norway. – We must press the alarm button before it is too late, he says. Minde Johnsen says Mental Health does not agree to such massive closures and deterioration of the offer as is proposed. – The waiting times in Helse Nord for both children, young people and adults in mental health care are already the highest in the country. We cannot see that these proposals will lead to a change in this. It would rather have the opposite effect, he says. LEADER: Ole Marius Minde Johnsen is national leader in Mental Health. Photo: Emilie Gjengedal The Vatnøy Mental Health manager points out that the 24-hour places have been proposed to be reduced by 19 places in UNN. Helgeland’s hospital loses 5. – This is not at all in line with political signals that one should stop the reduction of inpatient beds, says Ole Marius Minde Johansen. The expectation that the municipalities will take greater responsibility for these patients is a pipe dream, he believes. – The municipalities have neither the finances, the professionals nor the expertise they need to do the job, says Johansen. Social worker Ellen Ingvild Heiberg at DPS Tana says the municipal doctors in the district must now find out how to solve the situation when the mentally ill need help. – If it is decided that we have to close down here, then the municipal health service will have to take over. But as the situation is today, I don’t think the municipalities can do it, she says to news. Minister of Health and Care Ingvild Kjerkol says that there will be many different views in this process. – It is important that all those affected give input when Helse Nord’s proposal goes to consultation. Everything must be on the table before any final decision can be made, she says. REDD: Per Johan Henriksen has had several stays at DPS in Tana over the past few years. Photo: Eilif Aslaksen / news – I’m afraid The patient from Vadsø says he has never been asked by those who make suggestions about what is best for him and the other patients. – They go over our heads. They don’t ask how we want it to be. Whether we want to go to Alta or elsewhere? No, it’s just like that…we decided it, and then you just do it. And if we don’t do that, then we will suddenly end up with another statistic, one that they would very much like to have down, says Henriksen. The 64-year-old says that he is happy that his loved ones see and understand when he needs treatment. – When I come home after being here for three or four weeks, they look at me and say that now, Per, now you’re back again, now you’re here again. I’m no longer in the bubble I end up in when my thoughts get too heavy, he says. Per Johan smiles and looks forward to going home when he is ready. But then he gets serious again. – I’m afraid. Afraid of what is happening. The ripple effect will therefore be so great. The day you don’t see another solution, that’s when it starts to get dangerous. That’s when we need it here. That’s when we need people who see you, he says.
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Patient Per to Minister of Health Ingvild Kjerkol: – This is madness – news Sápmi
