Right-wing leader Erna Solberg, Fremskrittspartiet leader Sylvi Listhaug, Liberal leader Guri Melby and KrF’s first deputy leader Dag Inge Ulstein have invited news to the top of the Grand hotel in Oslo. With a view of the Storting, the Støre government is accused of failing the weakest in society. This happens through the government downsizing the services in the field of substance abuse and mental health, the four parties believe. According to them, the Labor Party is putting ideology ahead of a good health service with its recent national assembly decision to give health companies the opportunity to say no to the establishment of private health operators in their area. – They fail the weakest on several points, claims Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg. – I think this bourgeois clamor for more private solutions is strange. Even Maggie Thatcher called for our joint health service, and so does this government, counters Health Minister Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap). More about the health policy in a bit, but first a bit of history: A majority of the Conservative Party, the Progressive Party, the Liberal Party and KrF governed the country in the years 2013 to 2021. Erna Solberg and the Conservative Party were throughout the eight-year period of bourgeois rule the driving force to bring together the four the parties under one umbrella. Collection Now Solberg has once again managed to collect them. – Is your goal to go to the polls as one team in 2025? – I hope that everyone will be clear about a change of government. And then we always have to find out who wants to be in government with whom, but the most important thing is that we agree on basic policy: To use all good powers to help those who have the most difficulty in the field of drug addiction and mental health, says Solberg to news. In the years 2013–2017, the Conservative Party and FRP were in government together, but had a cooperation agreement with the Liberal Party and KrF. From 2017 to 2021, all four parties visited the government, for a short period also together. ELECTION TRIUMPH: Party leaders Siv Jensen (Frp), Erna Solberg, Trine Skei Grande and Knut Arild Hareide on election night in 2013. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell / NTB The Frp chose to leave the government in 2020 and has since been harsh in its criticism of the KrF and Liberals . – Sylvi Listhaug, have KrF and Venstre now become edible again for Frp? – We will have a discussion in the party after the election in the autumn. Our experience of sitting together with the Conservatives was good, but when KrF and Liberals came in, it was not particularly good for the government we were in. Liberal leader Guri Melby says the four parties agree on the criticism of Labor in health policy: – It is the wrong answer to the challenges we face in health, and then we have to come together and show that there is an alternative that can solve those problems in a better way, she says. TOGETHER: Deputy leader Dag Inge Ulstein of KrF and the party leaders Guri Melby (V), Sylvi Listhaug and Erna Solberg (H) jointly oppose the government. Photo: William Jobling / news – Don’t mess with the vulnerable Concretely, the four parties on the bourgeois side are reacting to the fact that the government has removed earmarks from a number of organizations in the fields of addiction and mental health. As news has previously reported, 60 out of 73 organizations have had their grant applications rejected. – It’s almost like I don’t believe what I’m hearing. It is a systematic destruction of many of the offers, says deputy Ulstein, who stands for KrF in party leader Olaug Bollestad’s absence. – To use Støre’s own words: Don’t mess with the most vulnerable. And don’t mess with those who work with those who need it the most, he says. Health Minister Kjerkol refers to the need for transparency in the allocation of public funds. – Allocation of funds should not depend on whether you know a party leader or conduct good lobbying. It must be the quality of the services people receive. Scrapped free choice of treatment The four parties are also critical that free choice of treatment has been removed. According to the Støre government, this was done “to strengthen our joint health service”. The scheme was established by the Solberg government in 2015. It means that private providers of treatment can enter into an agreement with Helfo. Patients who are referred for treatment can freely choose a treatment location from among private and public ones. The parties on the bourgeois side point out that many of the offers from actors who have been part of the free treatment choice scheme are not found in the public health service. – We made many important steps, but we did not reach the goal of everything. What is stupid is that the government is dismantling this now, says Solberg. ROW: Four parties on the bourgeois side are joining together, a little at a distance. Photo: William Jobling / news The Minister of Health and Care strongly reacts to claims that the government puts ideology above a good health service and fails the weakest. She recalls that even the “iron lady” Margaret Thatcher as British prime minister in the 80s defended the public health system. – We have a social contract in Norway that everyone must have access to good treatment. We are very successful with that in Norway, because we have a strong public health service, says Kjerkol. – In the coming years, we know that it will be challenging to obtain enough professionals. Then we have to ensure that the community can prioritize correctly. The current government points out that public hospitals’ expenditure on free choice of treatment has increased year by year. Kjerkol reminds that the government buys private treatment for around NOK 17 billion a year and points out that the Solberg government itself had the scheme with free choice of treatment evaluated: – The evaluation showed that it had no particular influence on the waiting time. We use the resources and we use private ones where it makes sense, she says. INVESTMENT: Clinic manager for the Cancer Clinic, Sigbjørn Smeland, talks to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) and Health Minister Ingvild Kjerkol during a recent visit to the Radium hospital. Photo: Beate Oma Dahle / NTB Tightening At its national meeting last weekend, Labor decided to give the health organizations the opportunity to say no to the establishment of private health operators in their area. – If you are concerned about healthcare personnel, you, as the Nurses’ Association, must focus on the 17,000 nurses who work in completely different things than in the healthcare system, says Solberg. – It may just be that you have alternatives that enable you to remain as a nurse. Here is the Ap national meeting’s decision Regulate the private health market more strictly through a turnover tax on health insurance and an approval scheme for the establishment of privately financed health services when such establishments weaken the public health service. For Ap, this is about protecting the vulnerable workforce. The party fears that private companies can attract professionals from the public sector to healthcare services that are not as urgent as, for example, a public hospital. In practice, this means that private companies can be refused establishment, because local people want to protect the “preparedness” in their area. – If we have a local hospital that lacks professionals, we believe the community must also be able to influence if a private actor comes and sets up across the street, says Kjerkol. However, this is not the government’s policy. Government partner the Center Party has not taken a position on the question. – We relate to the Hurdalsplattformen’s goal of a good collaboration with non-profits and that the use of private actors must be regulated in a way that ensures public governance, Sp’s parliamentary leader Marit Arnstad told news at the weekend.
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– The weakest fail – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
