– We will have a hearing, and then the answers we get at that hearing will determine whether we have confidence in the way the city council and especially Robert Steen have handled this, says Eirik Lae Solberg, group leader in Oslo Conservative Party. news and other media have reported in several cases about what patients and relatives believe is gross neglect at Ullern health center in Oslo. Relatives tell of a lack of care, low staffing and employees who do not come when they call. This has led to patients being left alone in the room for a long time, often in their own faeces, before someone has come to help. Former first public prosecutor Lasse Qvigstad was one of those who spoke about his experiences before Christmas last year. Former first public prosecutor Lasse Qvigstad has told about his experiences as a patient at a health center in Oslo. Photo: Lars Thomas Nordby / news On 30 January, the opposition in Oslo City Council called for a hearing on the health centers in Oslo. Even now, the Liberals and Conservatives are warning that they are considering a vote of no confidence in the person who is responsible for care for the elderly in the capital; City councilor for health, elderly and citizen services, Robert Steen. – What does he intend to do to get us out of this crisis, what does he intend to do to ensure that old people get the care they are entitled to? Today they don’t get that, says Hallstein Bjercke in Venstre. Needs answers – We have seen examples of gross neglect of care, and we have seen it in home care, in elderly care in Oslo, we have seen it at Ullern health center. Why have we ended up here? What does Steen intend to do with it? We have to get an answer to that, says Bjercke. Among other things, Robert Steen has thanked Lasse Qvigstad for his openness, after the former first state attorney shared his experiences from Ullern health centre. Steen has also initiated an external investigation of the municipal health centre. But the Conservatives and Liberals are not satisfied with the answers Steen has given so far. – At the beginning we felt that he did not take this seriously. He characterized it as unfortunate individual episodes, now there have been so many individual episodes that we have to question whether there is something wrong with the system, says Bjercke. Earlier on Thursday, it was also known that Oslo Høyre is demanding a full investigation of care for the elderly in Oslo municipality. The background for this is also news’s revelations about the state of home care in the municipality. – Wasting the municipality’s money Torgeir Bruun Wyller is a professor at the University of Oslo and is among those who have pointed out that the municipalities have been given responsibility for patients who are sicker and need more follow-up than before. – We see that the tasks of the health centers have become more demanding, so it is natural to ask why the building and the offer at the health centers have not been rebuilt, scaled up and staffed up in line with meeting this challenge, says Bjercke. – If the Conservatives and Liberals had sat in the City Council, you would have had to deal with the same municipal budget. How should you have handled this differently than what Steen has done? – Oslo municipality has had great income growth in recent years, greater than ever. This could have been money that could have been used to strengthen care for the elderly, says Lae Solberg. – This city council is wasting the municipality’s money. There is no doubt that Oslo municipality has increased budgets, and it is more about how the money is spent than how much money there is in this municipality, Bjercke believes. – It’s an election year, there are municipal elections in the autumn, is this just to show off politically? – This is a very serious situation for those concerned, which we take very seriously. Therefore, it is far too early to conclude that we do not have confidence. We will see what emerges from the hearing and will draw conclusions based on that, says Lae Solberg. Has been in rough weather before It is only a year since city councilor Robert Steen was heavily criticized by the opposition. At the time, the case was about a tender for 800 nursing home places for non-profit actors. Then the city council voted for the strictest form of criticism, apart from censure, also called a date decision. It was Avisa Oslo that mentioned the case a year ago. Liberals and Conservatives in Oslo are considering submitting a no-confidence motion against city councilor Robert Steen after what has emerged about health centers in Oslo. Photo: Rolf Petter Olaisen / news In order for City Councilor Robert Steen to have no confidence in him, all the opposition parties in the Oslo City Council must vote for a motion of no confidence. news has been in contact with Robert Steen, who tells news that he does not want to comment on a possible no-confidence motion against him.
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The Conservatives and Liberals are considering a lack of confidence in the health council after the health center cases
