Pål Espen Johannesen is senior manager of one of the largest hospital pharmacies in the country. In the last 12 years, there has been a great deal of progress in his position. 8 people have left their jobs during the period. Johannessen has been our leader since 2020. The pharmacy at Haukeland University Hospital supplies important medicines to the whole of Norway. Johannessen has sounded the alarm about the situation in his own health company. Among other things, he has sent a report of concern to the Norwegian Health Authority and the Norwegian Medicines Agency. He believes that the pharmacies that supply hospitals throughout Norway with medicine are not capable of supplying a number of sterile medicines. Sterile drugs are important, among other things, when drugs are to be injected into the body of patients. CONFLICT: The pharmacy supplies the whole country with medicines. Now the pharmacy manager has sounded the alarm about the conditions. Photo: Simon Skjelvik Brandseth / news Conducted inspection after notice This week, the Norwegian Medicines Agency carried out its own inspection of the Hospital Pharmacy in Bergen at short notice. At the same time, management at Hospital Pharmacy Vest is considering firing the pharmacy manager. Bergens Tidende reported the case first. news knows that there have long been discussions about how the pharmacy will solve the challenge with the sterilization equipment. In December, managing director Jon Bolstad of Sjukehusapoteka Vest announced that he would use the time over the New Year to assess whether he had confidence in the pharmacy manager. Johannesen has overall responsibility for the operation of the pharmacy, which has 135 employees. – This is a personnel matter, and as a matter of principle we will not comment on this, says communications manager Bernt Flekke. He is speaking on behalf of Jon Bolstad, who is managing director of Hospital Pharmacy Vest. Jon Bolstad is managing director of Hospital Pharmacy Vest. Photo: Mette Anthun / news Employees call for pharmacy manager At the same time, 50 employees have written an extensive letter of support asking the pharmacy management to end the dismissal process against pharmacy manager Pål Espen Johannessen. The appeal was completed in a short time on Tuesday. The employees write that Johannessen is professionally competent and takes good care of the employees. – If Pål Espen is dismissed now, he will be the ninth in a row to leave. This will again be critical for the further operation of the pharmacy. We are dependent on highly competent people who want to work with us, says local trustee at the pharmacy in Haukeland, Oddgeir Selaas. news knows that the process against Johannessen has caused great frustration and unrest in the organisation. – I received a letter from Jon Bolstad at the end of January, in which a meeting was called to discuss whether they wanted to fire me or not, says Johannessen. The discussion meeting was supposed to take place at 12 o’clock today, but was canceled at short notice. news is informed that the reason is a review by the Danish Medicines Agency. Johannessen says he will oppose a dismissal, and thinks it will be unfair. He says he has support from trade unions, lawyers and the union. – I am completely incomprehensible to the claims they make against me, which appear to be vague and general. – UNUSED: Pharmacy manager for the hospital pharmacy in Haukeland, Pål Espen Johannessen, believes that a possible dismissal would be unwarranted. Photo: Gerd Johanne Braadland Major drawdown by pharmacy managers The background to the conflict is, among other things, that Johannessen demands that the pharmacy get its own operations engineer. – I have tried to warn that in the extreme it could be a danger to life and health. That we were heading out into dangerous waters. We need people who can keep up and improve a water system that supplies sterile water. DEFECTIVE WATER SYSTEM: A water system that supplies sterile water has been out of operation for large parts of 2022 and as far as 2023. Photo: The hospital pharmacy in Bergen Johannesen feels that they want to remove an employee because the management does not like things being brought up. – There have been at least eight people who have been in my position as hospital pharmacist in the last 12 years. It has been a huge change. news has been in contact with two of the former managers at the Hospital Pharmacy in Bergen. None of them will be interviewed now, but express their support for Johannessen. – It is the responsible doctor at the pharmacy whose name will be charged if something goes wrong. It shouldn’t be allowed to happen on my watch, says the person involved to news. Tonight there will also be an extraordinary board meeting at Hospital Pharmacy West. The meeting is digital and closed to the public.
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Pharmacy manager at Haukeland warns of danger to life and health – may be fired – news Vestland
