“I thought there was a lot of waste and misuse of funds”. This is how the former finance manager formulated the warning. The Association for Children’s Palliative Care (FFB) has been scrutinized for how they used the NOK 90 million they received for Andreas Hus. The association in Kristiansand must now pay back a “double-digit number of millions” as a result of the money spent. In connection with the Norwegian Directorate of Health’s investigation of the money, it emerges that the then head of finance notified the board in June last year. news has been in contact with the person concerned, who does not wish to comment on the matter beyond what is stated in the report. The person is aware that news is publishing this article, and wishes to remain anonymous for reasons of current workplace. The notice was dealt with and closed three days later by the then chairman of the board, Lisbeth Andersen. At this time, then general secretary Natasha Pedersen was also part of the board. During the processing of the case, Pedersen is said to have stated that the notice “was just nonsense”. She later explained that it was a labor dispute. “Following its review, the board has found no signs of fraud and/or overspending. The board therefore considers the matter closed,” the minutes after the meeting state. Read the full response from Pedersen and Andersen further down in the case. Former secretary general Natasha Pedersen (left) welcomed auditors from PwC and case managers from the Norwegian Directorate of Health in connection with an inspection at Andreas Hus in November last year. Photo: John-André Samuelsen / news Will consider police report In the last three years, the Norwegian Association for Children’s Palliative Care (FFB) has received more than NOK 90 million from the state. news has previously revealed that the association has spent money on sponsoring the Vipers handball team, designer furniture for its own apartment and PR consultants. The Directorate of Health later investigated the association’s spending, and among other things found that they had spent NOK 16 million on advertising, marketing, consultants and PR. Findings in the report: Advertising: In total, the association has spent just over NOK 16 million on PR, marketing, advertising and consultants. Renovation: The association has spent NOK 1.6 million on furnishing and refurbishing an apartment they own in Byhaven in Kristiansand. Vipers: The association has spent just over NOK 680,000 on the handball team Vipers Kristiansand. Rent: The association has spent more than NOK 200,000 on paying rent to itself. Flowers: The association spent NOK 102,000 on fresh flowers for the then office premises in 2020. Final value: A personnel case ended with compensation and severance pay for a former employee – with a price tag of over NOK 330,000. Rome congress: The association had expenses of NOK 175,000 related to the Maruzza International Congress on Paediatric Palliative CARE in Rome in May 2022. The Directorate of Health also believes that the association has played tricks with the accounts, and will consider a police report, they stated last week. – We have informed the association that they will not receive money from us in the future. We don’t trust them, said department director Elise Husum when the report was presented. Founder and general secretary Natasha Pedersen lost her job as a result of the report. Fædrelandsvennen wrote on Monday that Pedersen’s lawyer believes that the board broke the law when she was dismissed on the day. news has repeatedly tried to get Pedersen to speak. She does not want to be interviewed. – General secretary overruns the board In interviews with the auditors from PwC, former chairman Lisbeth Andersen goes a long way in claiming that the then general secretary Natasha Pedersen’s “strong involvement” made the job difficult for the board. “The secretary-general is such a strong leader that I have experienced her overrunning the board. We are afraid to contact others, because we know that there will only be noise”. Andersen tells news that the board job in the association quickly became difficult after she took office in autumn 2021. – There were not many decisions we were involved in. It became difficult to follow the lesson, says Andersen. With the exception of her chairman’s fee of NOK 60,000, the entire board sat as volunteers. Several had full-time jobs, and they lived scattered around the country. – Why did the notice from the financial manager end up with nothing? – The problem was that this came at the same time as a personal conflict in the association. But this could certainly have been handled better. Andersen emphasizes that she invited the finance manager to a meeting. The finance manager was on sick leave at this time. She never had the conversation with the chairman because she thought there was no purpose as the matter was closed anyway. news has been in contact with former board members, who do not wish to comment on the matter. The chairman informs news that she considered throwing in the cards as early as June 2022. – There was talk of us giving up. But the association was in a vulnerable situation, and news was on us with inquiries. We stayed, for the good of the cause. – And what do you think about the future for Andreas Hus? – I think it will be difficult. But we should have a children’s hospice in place. CONSTRUCTION: Minister of Health Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap) gets a tour of the construction of Andreas Hus last year. Photo: Heidi Ditlefsen / news Pedersen refutes In the report, former general secretary Natasha Pedersen denies that she has withheld information from the board. “This is not right. The board has received summonses, case lists and attachments that contain significant background information on cases,” says Pedersen in the report. The board of FFB chose to resign in November 2022, at the same time that the association was under investigation. The chairman explains in the investigation report that Pedersen demanded a higher salary, and that “it was the final straw”. Pedersen refutes this claim. “The board chose to resign when the funds from the state budget were cut. They left because of pressures related to the media”, are among the points she refers to the investigators. Pedersen writes in a press release from the association that “what the board and I have done has been done in the best of intentions and with the aim of creating a good place to be for families with seriously ill and dying children”. She also writes that “building up a children’s hospice is new work, and it is easy afterwards to say that certain things could have been done differently, but we have worked to the best of our ability”.
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The board of the Association for Children’s Palliative Care (FFB) withdrew notice of objectionable conditions – news Sørlandet – Local news, TV and radio
