– The board lacks contact on the ground, says Thoralf Enge, who is the company representative for the doctors in Finnmarkssykehuset. The case concerns the gigantic deficit in Finnmarkssykehuset. Thoralf Enge works on a daily basis at Hammerfest Hospital as a senior physician. Photo: PER BANNE In order to get the economy under control, the board of the Finnmark Hospital assumes that it succeeds in a number of measures. Among other things, they must reduce sickness absence, use fewer substitutes, carry out more consultations, reduce the number of beds and use people more efficiently. In addition, there will be a major restructuring process. It has not been investigated well enough, says Enge. Finnmarkshykehuset is not alone in the financial quagmire. Four healthcare organizations in Norway plan to spend more money than they receive in 2023. Vestfold Hospital, Østfold Hospital and Helse Nord-Trøndelag have all drawn up budgets where they are several million in the red. Kirkenes Hospital is covered by Finnmark Hospital. There is also Hammerfest Hospital, Klinikk Alta and Sámi Klinihkka in Karasjok. Photo: André Bendixen / news 20,000 more consultations Finnmark hospital currently has a deficit of NOK 232 million. The board and director Per Angermo have realized that it is not possible to balance this in 2023. The aim is therefore to save 120.6 million. This means that by the end of the year, you will have a deficit of 111.4 million. If everything goes according to plan. Thoralf Enge doesn’t think it will. – When they assume that the number of consultations will be increased by 20,000 in the next year, and they are absolutely certain that they will not fail, then I get a bit of a sick feeling in my stomach, says Enge. He refers to a number of measures planned to reduce the deficit. The measures look best on paper, he believes. – It is pure wishful thinking. For Enge thinks he has heard something similar before. The economy had to be in balance before Hammerfest New Hospital could be built. It was not fulfilled when the spade was stuck in the ground. Now the economy is in shambles. Photo: Eirik Sørenmo Påsche / news Namely when New Hammerfest Hospital was to be built. At the time, the board had to save 120 million in advance of the construction in order to be allowed by Helse Nord to put the shovel in the ground. – This did not happen. They were unable to save, and the situation only got worse, says Enge. The price of the hospital came to 2.3 billion. The bill has not yet started to be paid. No help from the minister One of the biggest challenges, and which Finnmark Hospital has put in as a prerequisite for success, is to reduce the hiring of temporary workers. Last year, Finnmark Hospital used approx. 115 million on hired labour, which was an overspend of 62.5 million. There is no help from the Minister of Health. During his hospital speech on Monday this week, Ingvild Kjerkol said, on the contrary, that hospitals must become even better at saving. She specifically pointed to temporary agency costs, which she believes must be reduced. But it has proved easier said than done. Leader of the Association of Young Doctors, Kristin Kornelia Utne, tells news that she supports the idea of more permanent positions, but the reality is that you are dependent on temporary workers. – If we are not going to use subcontracting, it means that our own employees will have to work more overtime. It worries me in terms of the burden on those in the service, says Utne. – No time for the patients Finnmarkssykehuset has set aside 7 million over a five-year period to ensure recruitment and stable staffing. But union representatives still fear that this will not help, because employees are looking away. – I have spoken to many people who say that now it is enough. Now we find something else to do, says Kristina Nytun. She is the union representative for the nurses in Finnmarkssykehuset and works at Kirkenes hospital. Nytun says that employees feel that one measure kills the other, and that employees are now tired. She fears that what is happening will affect the patients. – Everything is about the processes. When are we going to take care of the patients, asks Nytun. Believes the minister is running away from responsibility In July, the last director in the series was hired. 52-year-old Per Angermo from Tromsø. – We strongly believe that the measures and the work being done will contribute to a healthier economy, better quality, and a strengthened professional environment for the best for the patient, says Angermo. Per Angermo is director of Finnmarkssykehuset. He is confident of being able to reverse the negative figures for the company. But not during 2023. Photo: Per-Christian Johansen / UNN – Is it the case that the savings plan is more wishful thinking than realism? – No, I don’t mean that. And therefore we have also not set ourselves the goal of getting the budget into balance during the year. We have to eat the elephant bit by bit, he says. – Will the restructuring measures be subject to a consequence assessment? – It is included in the mandate that we must have a risk and vulnerability analysis, says Angermo. Accuses the government of abdicating responsibility Chairman Lena Nymo Helli admits that the task is formidable, but says that they must comply with the mandate they have been given. Storting representative for Patient Focus, Irene Ojala, believes the companies need help from the government. She is completely against the enterprise model, which means that the hospitals are managed according to corporate economic principles. Irene Ojala sits on the Norwegian Parliament’s health committee for patient focus. She believes the government is running away from responsibility. Photo: Hanne Wilhelms / news She points out that the Minister of Health consistently refers to the company in order to get control of the economy. – The Government and the Minister of Health have abdicated responsibility for the health service and thus for the patients. People vote for a political party in the hope of better health services, they don’t vote for a company, she says.
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The elected representatives have lost faith in the board and the director of Finnmarkshykehuset – news Troms and Finnmark
