On Friday, Minister of Health and Care Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap) will present the National Health and Cooperation Plan. In the plan, the Ministry of Health comes up with ten measures that will make the waiting time for patients shorter. Among the measures are increased investment in women’s health, use of artificial intelligence in the organization and better cooperation between the municipal and regional health services. The government’s ten points for shorter waiting times Strengthen low-threshold offers: Expand low-threshold offers within mental health and substance abuse in the municipalities. It should contribute to more people being able to get help more quickly and without referral. The right help in the right place at the right time: The government will reduce waiting times in mental health care to an average of 35 days for children and young people. Young people should not receive a written refusal, but receive an assessment interview about how they should be followed up further in the specialist health service or in the municipality. Strengthen mental health care and substance abuse treatment: The government asks the regional healthcare providers to prioritize and use more resources in mental health care and substance abuse follow-up. Adapt follow-up from home: For patients with long-term mental disorders, a user-managed outpatient clinic will be trialled in 2024. This will, among other things, save patients from unnecessary hospital visits. Good and accessible GP service: GPs mean that more tasks can be solved close to where people live. Invest in women’s health: The government will invest in knowledge and research on women’s health, especially on mental health, eating disorders and endometriosis. Consider interest rates and reduced equity requirements for hospitals: Among other things, it should become easier for hospitals to invest in buildings and equipment. Ensure access to the right skills: To contribute to this, the government will, among other things, promote skilled workers, increase the number of LIS1 positions and give specialist approval to several occupational groups in health personnel. Invest in technology and digitalisation: The government will test new technology, such as artificial intelligence, to save staff and offer better services. Increase cooperation between regional and municipal healthcare: The government will establish a permanent subsidy for recruitment and cooperation. Health care queues have increased since 2017. It is especially patients in mental healthcare who have had to wait a long time. To reverse the trend, Kjerkol believes that capacity must be expanded. – We must have better digital solutions, better use of professionals, and there must be more seamlessness between the levels, so that the patient does not have to wait unnecessarily in their course. Want closer cooperation The background for the health plan is that the organization between the municipal sector and the regional health companies is not good enough, and that patients with complex needs fall between two chairs and have to wait a long time. The plan also follows up on the recommendations from the Health Personnel Commission and the hospital selection committee. This is written by the Health Personnel Commission. The specialty structure, that is, the overall composition and delineation between the specialties, will have an impact on staffing in the services. It can be argued that the aging patient population with complex conditions requires more broad competence. However, it may appear that doctors in specialization are trained in organ-specific specialties. The reasons for this may be: Lack of LIS positions in general specialties in small and larger hospitals. Lack of supervisors. Long education period for specialist education number two. Compilation of the curricula both with regard to learning objectives and learning activities. This may mean that educational capacity and the supply of qualified medical specialists are reduced. At the same time, it can lead to fewer people choosing a double specialty and it becomes more attractive to train in an organ-specific specialty, rather than choosing general internal medicine or general surgery. In sum, this can weaken recruitment to the specialities, which can particularly affect the local hospitals. The Health Personnel Commission recommends more investment in general medical competence in the regional health institutions and in the health institutions. This can be done, among other things, by: Prioritizing education positions and senior teaching positions in general specialities. Contribute to greater flexibility in education courses with smoother transitions between small and medium-sized hospitals. Make better arrangements for parallel specialization courses. Other opportunities for incentives, such as financial instruments, should also be considered. Source: NOU 2023:4 “Time for action – Personnel in a sustainable health and care service” The Minister of Health presents the health plan on Friday. Photo: Knut Are Tornås / news On Thursday, the Minister of Health visited Aker Hospital in Oslo. There, the municipal emergency room got new premises before Christmas. Here, patients enter the same entrance, whether they are going to the emergency room or have an appointment with a specialist at the hospital. The Minister of Health believes that the patient too often becomes a pawn in a fragmented system, and wants better cooperation, such as at Aker. – We must have a common system where the professionals can be used crosswise, and the collaboration works crosswise, says Kjerkol. Area of focus In the plan that will be presented on Friday, they propose that in two areas in particular they wish to blur the lines between health services that are run by the municipality and the state: For those who are going to have children, the government believes that closer cooperation between hospitals and the municipal health service , will be able to provide better and safer offers. In addition, the queues are too long for children and young people who struggle with drugs or have mental difficulties. Here, too, the government will tear down the distinction between different levels in the services. The aim is to shorten the waiting time by expanding the low-threshold offer in the municipalities and prioritizing mental health at hospitals. Not enough focus on recruitment or funding President of the Norwegian Medical Association Anne-Karin Rime is calling for money among the measures the government is putting forward. Anne-Karin Rime in the Medical Association is calling for money in the plan. Photo: Martin Tangen Schmidt / news – Historically speaking, increased funding is a sure winner for reducing waiting times in specialist health services. So far, there is no money in the plan, so it is important that the good measures are sorted out and that they are accompanied by funding. The head of the nurses, Lill Sverresdatter Larsen, lacks more focus on recruitment among the measures in the health plan. Photo: Glenn Aaseby / news Leader of the Norwegian Nurses Association Lill Sverresdatter Larsen thinks many of the measures are good, but thinks the health plan could have placed more emphasis on staffing to implement the measures. – The whole problem is that we lack health personnel and skilled workers. If we are to reduce waiting times, we must do something with recruitment.
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The government presents the National Health and Cooperation Plan – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
