In the proposal from the expert groups that was put forward today, the emergency service at the hospital in Narvik is removed, and the hospital in Lofoten is closed down. In Helgeland, only one large hospital is proposed, but they say nothing about where it will be located. The background for the work in Helse Nord is that the hospitals in northern Norway are crying out for enough professionals. This has led to the initiation of a large and comprehensive process to review how the hospitals can be run in a more efficient manner. In this work, Helse Nord has set up five working groups. These groups have looked at different parts of the health services. Today, Tuesday, the groups presented their recommendations for a new organization of the hospitals in Northern Norway. Demands that the process be stopped Working group 1 looks at urgent and planned functions. And it is the proposals for the majority in this working group that are now making waves far into the Storting. Several parties are now demanding that the process in Helse Nord be stopped. The Progress Party and Red are among the parties that want to stop the process. Bård Hoksrud, spokesperson for health policy in the FRP, is very concerned about the future of patients in Northern Norway. Hoksrud is now warning that the FRP will put forward a proposal in which the Storting asks the government to stop the whole process. Seher Aydar parliamentary representative for Rødt Photo: Mathias Moene Rød / news Seher Aydar, who represents Rødt in the health and care committee, supports the FRP’s initiative to stop the process. – The government has said they want to strengthen local emergency preparedness, but now they are letting Helse Nord put the safety of the population in the north at risk. Aydar is worried about whether the process has started at the wrong end. – Helse Nord has entered into this with short deadlines. Helse Nord risks uprooting solid and vital environments and losing professionals along the way. – It cannot be up to the boards of the Health Organizations to make it safe to live, work and give birth in Norway. This responsibility must lie with the elected representatives. – It is absurd, completely absurd that this should be left to a short-term investigation within a healthcare institution. Q: No emergency or maternity services can be cut − No emergency or maternity services in the current adopted hospital structure can be cut. That is what Storting representative Siv Mossleth in the Center Party (Sp) says. She also sits on the health and care committee. Siv Mossleth (Sp) in the health and care committee says that no emergency or maternity services can be cut. Photo: Synnøve Sundby Fallmyr / news – The government declaration is clear that the government will develop and strengthen the decentralized hospital provision in Norway, move more of the elective operations out to local hospitals, and strengthen the local emergency preparedness. The Nurses’ Association: – Code red Photo: Kristin Henriksen – North Health is facing major challenges. They cannot be resolved without the Storting putting aside party political ideologies and jointly designing a long-term plan for the health services. Health must be a higher priority, says confederation leader Lill Sverresdatter Larsen of the Norwegian Nurses’ Association. The national meeting warns that what is happening in Helse Nord is a signal that things are about to go wrong for the health and care service in Norway. Now they demand a cross-party health settlement and an investment to secure health services across the country. – We have reported code red. This is such an important issue for the country’s settlement pattern, preparedness and patient safety that both the Storting and the Government have to take ownership of the process. It requires political investment, real priority in the form of money, and it requires an interdisciplinary approach, continues Sverresdatter Larsen. LO, Unio and Akademikerne have sent a joint letter to Helse Nord related to the restructuring process that is now taking place with a recommendation to slow down the pace and ensure real involvement in the restructuring. Marit Arnstad is the parliamentary leader of Sp and says that they do not support a centralization of hospitals. – The Total Preparedness Commission has said that hospitals in Northern Norway are incredibly important in the context of preparedness. That is one of the reasons why Arnstad wants political processes and discussions about Helse Nord’s proposal. – We need safe conditions for people in the north when it comes to emergency and maternity services. She believes that the politicians are responsible for that. KrF: – I am simply shocked Olaug Bollestad (KrF) says she is shocked that the Minister of Health is allowing Helse Nord to propose the dramatic changes in the region. – I am simply shocked. Residents and employees in Northern Norway have to stand in what they experience as a hasty process. Olaug Bollestad (KrF) Photo: Simon Skjelvik Brandseth / news She believes that the size of the case means that the Storting must be allowed to deal with the case. – Such a big change must be decided by the Storting. I would demand that this be dealt with here, and not in a semi-open process in a board. This is also about our preparedness in the north. SV demands that the changes be processed in the Storting, and will file a case tomorrow, news is informed. Marian Hussein (SV) Photo: Nadir Alam / news – Hospital provision for an entire part of the country cannot be handled as easily as we do now. A matter of such dimensions must be decided politically, in the Storting, says Marian Hussein, deputy leader and spokesperson for health policy in SV. – We have equal access to the right health care in this country. Then we cannot continue to treat the population in the north as we do now. The proposal put forward by SV is as follows: “The Storting asks the government to ensure that the central and major changes in hospital administration in Helse Nord are dealt with in the Storting.” Rune Edvardsen (Ap), mayor of Narvik Photo: Frida Brembo / news Mayor Rune Edvardsen (Ap) in Narvik also believes that the Helse Nord board must stop the process. Narvik is one of the hospitals that will be demolished and become a “day hospital” if the working group gets their way. – It is impossible to make major strategic decisions on something that has such major flaws, and which was obviously made in a hurry, says Rune Edvardsen to Fremover newspaper. – This is not sustainable, says Edvardsen. The proposal from the working group indicates that the hospital in Narvik will lose its emergency surgery and maternity ward. Instead, the hospital will be built up with increased day surgery and retain a birthing room. Right: – The government is creating complete confusion – The government is creating complete confusion about the future of health services in the north. The Labor Party and the Center Party have initiated a process that has created great uncertainty and unrest for citizens and health personnel. Now they also have to take responsibility for landing this. This is what health policy spokesperson in the Conservative Party, Tone Wilhelmsen Trøen, says in a statement. Tone Wilhelmsen Trøen is health policy spokesperson for the Conservative Party. Photo: Martin Fønnebø / news They point out that the Center Party has already opposed cuts to emergency and maternity services. – The Conservative Party expects the Minister of Health to clarify whether Helse Nord will continue the process that the government itself has initiated. The party itself would recommend that the government postpone its notified national health and cooperation plan and that the health provision in the north must be included in this. – This gives the Storting the opportunity to deal with this holistically. The Minister of Health: – Must have good service throughout the country Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap) says it is important that the inhabitants of Northern Norway can expect as good treatment as the inhabitants of the rest of the country. Ingvild Kjerkol is the Minister of Health and Welfare. Photo: Rebekka Ellingsen / news – We must have an equal and good service throughout the country, but we do not have that in the northern part of the country today. – In the north, you do not reach the targets for the package processes for cancer and we do not have a cancer centre, but we have too many gaps in duty schedules for important skills such as X-rays. Kjerkol fears that this could result in a loss of prognosis for the patients. She emphasizes that she has not received any recommendation from Helse Nord yet, and that a political decision will not be made until the spring. – But we must ensure that we have specialists in Northern Norway today, tomorrow and in the time to come. Lofoten mayors: – We are shocked Vidar Thom Benjaminsen, mayor of Vågan and leader of the Lofoten Council Photo: Vilde Bratland Erikstad / Mayor of Vågan and leader of the Lofoten Council, Vidar Thomas Benjaminsen says they are shocked by the decision. – We are shocked that such a decision can be reached. He points out that the 25,000 people who live in Lofoten. – In the summer there are over 80,000 people in Lofoten at the same time. Then we should not have emergency preparedness to ensure that we get help if something goes wrong, we are actually quite shocked by that. Do you feel that the municipalities have been sufficiently involved? – In no way. Vågan or Vest-Lofoten have not had the opportunity to express our opinion. This has been taken over our heads by people who do not belong here and have little to do with what is happening here locally. He is very critical of the process. – It has been decided in advance. Fifteen people have been part of the working group, ten of whom have been appointed by Helse Nord. This is what the minority in working group 1 in Helse Nord writes A minority of 4 representatives cannot stand behind the recommendation for alternative 2 as the future structure for Helse Nord. One member of the minority does not want to take a position on any of the proposed alternatives. 2 of the minority recommend option 1 for the Helgelandsvkehuset, which means that the adopted structure agreed at the company meeting in 2019 is realised. One from the minority supports everything. 2 for Helgelandsvkehuset. The minority of 3 believe that the O option should be the starting point for the further development of UNN and Nordlandssykehuset and Finnmarksykehuset. (…) It has been extremely demanding to carry out an investigation based on the agreed mandate within such a short period of time. A process where we are expected to familiarize ourselves with the problem and come up with well-founded recommendations in less than 3 months about a future hospital structure in Helse Nord (…) has proven to be extremely challenging, if at all possible. The short deadline has also made it impossible to ensure the necessary involvement and anchoring both within the professional environments of the specialist health service and not least in the municipalities. Helse Nord has set up a framework for the investigation, which had the intention of involving the municipalities. This has not worked in practice due to tight deadlines and too fast processes. The result is a massive opposition that has been mobilized from the municipalities and the employees’ organizations against proposed alternatives from the majority in the working group. The distrust towards Helse Nord is great and growing. It is a shame for the major restructuring work that is necessary to develop a sustainable health service in Northern Norway. We would like to emphasize that we accepted the mandate and have worked hard and seriously within the framework we have had. In our opinion, the analyzes for the selection of alternatives have been based on too little information. It gives an incomplete picture when the main parameter for the selection of which hospitals have the greatest opportunity to create professional environments is the number of emergency admissions. We have called for an overview of vacant positions at hospital level (…) (…) At the same time, the danger of losing key professionals in the health institutions is imminent. It cannot be assumed that recruitment to strengthened professional environments is going at the same pace as you are losing professionals in places undergoing decommissioning or downscaling. In our opinion, it will be particularly demanding to recruit key personnel to hospitals in northern Norway that are converted to a DMS, to an elective hospital or a hospital that loses its surgical emergency preparedness. The minority will emphasize (…) that the current situation in the specialist health service is particularly demanding both in terms of persistent financial challenges, recruitment for permanent positions, missed deadlines and long waiting lists. This is a recognized understanding both in the specialist health service and in the municipalities. The conclusions in the working group are drawn without, in our opinion, having a good enough overview of the consequences for the pre-hospital services. Changing the professional offer by e.g. UNN Narvik and Nordlandssykehuset Lofoten will demand a significant strengthening of the pre-hospital services (…) (Excerpt from a document called Dissent, working group 1 Helse Nord) One group member has delivered a separate dissent that mainly supports alternative 2, but not when it applies to alternative 2 for Lofoten: Here, I think you have to look at the range of possibilities between alternative 0 and 1. This representative in the group also mentions a hectic work process: With the overall approach used in the group’s work, I believe that the consequences have not been sufficiently elucidated of the long journey, in time and distance, that parts of west Lofoten get with this solution. There is also a need to look more closely at the weather conditions and the possibilities for compensatory measures before such a change can be implemented.
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Strong reactions to proposals for hospital cuts – several parties in the Storting will stop the process – news Nordland
