At the end of September last year, the State Administrator in Oslo and Viken received a warning about improper operation at the Recovery Academy’s (RA) residential and care center Stensbyhagen from a former employee.
The whistleblower describes a number of serious conditions at the institution in Minnesund, which houses residents with drug addiction and mental illness:
- Generally poor follow-up of residents.
- Residents are denied calls and are deprived of / denied food, medicine and activities if they arrive late for meetings.
- Staffing is reduced without the client being notified.
- Inadequate training and lack of non-conformance registration.
- Employees backbite and imitate residents.
- The staff trains and sleeps during working hours.
Takes self-criticism
It was not until 2 May this year – seven months after the notice was received – that the State Administrator sent a letter about the notice to five municipalities that have residents at Stensbyhagen.
ACTED LATE: The state administrator in Oslo and Viken, here represented by assistant county doctor Helga Arianson. Photo: Nina Hansen
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Now the State Administrator (SFOV) takes self-criticism for late response.
“We regret that it took a long time before we involved the municipalities in this case,” writes section chief Anette Asbjørnsen to Dagbladet.
“We believe we have taken the case seriously, but see that we have spent too much time clarifying all the circumstances and that the case should have been closed earlier than we now manage,” it continues.
However, it is not the case that SFOV has not done anything in the meantime, in the unfinished supervisory case:
“We have requested and received new information since September and until very recently (…). Complaints have provided us with important information during the proceedings, which has meant that we have received significant and new information until recently. “
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– Answer the person in question
The letters to the municipalities reproduce the content of the notice.
Furthermore, SFOV reminds that the municipalities “have the overall responsibility” for health and care services Stensbyhagen delivers on their behalf, and is obliged to perform internal control of Stensbyhagen’s services.
RA manager and store owner in the private health trust, Ole Andreas Underland, tells Dagbladet that the company was not informed about the State Administrator’s warning letter to the resident municipalities.
– We have a good collaboration with the State Administrator and relate to feedback that comes from them, says Underland.
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Dagbladet has asked him how comprehensive he thinks the descriptions in the forecast from September 2021 are for the conditions at Stensbyhagen, and received the following answer:
“As far as our complaint processing is concerned, we respond to the person concerned and comply with the feedback we receive.”
Knew about media interest
April 16 last year dead dementia sufferer and former drug addict David Sørensen (53) at this institution in Minnesund. He was strangled by food in his throat.
Dagbladet has recently revealed that David had several near misses in the weeks before he died at Stensbyhagen.
PROUD FATHER: David lived a life on the shadow side of society, but he was very fond of his son Michael. Photo: Private
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Several weeks before the State Administrator’s employees in May sent their letter to the municipalities, it was clear that the conditions at Stensbyhagen could become a topic in the media.
By New Year’s, David’s son Michael had begun to question his father’s treatment and dramatic deaths at Stensbyhagen. In February, he persuaded the Attorney General to resume the investigation into the death.
Dagbladet also contacted the State Administrator about Stensbyhagen, with requests for access and questions about a report of concern.
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– Never heard anything
Dagbladet knows the identity of the former Stensbyhagen employee who notified the State Administrator of unjustifiable conditions in September last year.
– After a short, introductory correspondence, I never heard anything more from the State Administrator. I can document several of the conditions I notified about, says the notifier.
In its report to the State Administrator on David Sørensen’s death, RA writes, among other things, this about who lives at Stensbyhagen:
ANSWER: RA chief Ole Andreas Underland says they have a good collaboration with the State Administrator. Photo: Nina Hansen
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“At Stensbyhagen, there are mainly residents with” serious mental disorders combined with active intoxication. There is a high risk of serious incidents in several areas such as suicide, self-harm, intoxication, suffocation, anaphylactic shock, sepsis, heart failure, diabetes-related risk, stab wounds and more. “
RA writes that due to this there is a high focus and high competence on life-saving first aid among the staff.
– Takes the matter seriously
Bærum municipality, which was responsible for the late David Sørensen, now has two residents at Stensbyhagen, and a total of nine residents at RA.
Together with the State Administrator and Fredrikstad Municipality, Bærum Municipality received the notification already in September last year, directly from the notifier.
Bærum says they have taken action after the warning, through random checks regarding staffing, training, fire protection, first aid, drug handling and quality system.
– Bærum municipality takes this matter seriously, and follows up with the supplier, says section leader Allocation and administration, Janne Nilsen.
She says that RA keeps the municipality regularly updated in the case.
Lørenskog, which buys four places at various departments of RA, has also taken the State Administrator’s inquiry seriously. The municipality states that it has reviewed all documentation, supervised the departments, and received feedback from the residents and their relatives.
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“We do not find information that supports the concern conveyed by the state administrator. Residents who use the offer and their relatives are generally very satisfied with the offer “, writes Gry Røste, director of Health, care and coping in Lørenskog municipality.
Rejects
In a letter to the State Administrator, the Welfare Service in Oslo Municipality states that they have not renewed the contract with RA, which was entered into in 2016 and expired on 30 June this year.
To Dagbladet, Oslo Municipality rejects that the notice from September last year is the reason why the framework agreement has been terminated.
Section chief Inger Stavik in the Welfare Service emphasizes that the warning has been followed up.
DAVID: Here is David a little over a year before he died, three days before he turned 52. He himself sent the picture to Michael’s mother, ex-girlfriend Vigdis. Photo: Private
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– The contract period for previous framework agreements has expired and the municipality has conducted a new competition for a framework agreement for round-the-clock services for people with mental illness. The municipality received many offers in the competition. The Recovery Academy did not reach the competition, and was therefore not awarded a new framework agreement. The award criteria were price and quality, says Stavik.
She says that in the last year, an average of four people have lived at Stensbyhagen through the contract with RA.
Furthermore, Stavik says that RA made Oslo Municipality aware of the warning in September last year.
– The Welfare Service has followed up on this notice separately, in addition to ordinary contract follow-up, Stavik says and adds:
– Choked with bread with caviar
-We have had meetings with them about the conditions stated in the notice.
– Have the answers been satisfactory?
– We have both received information in meetings and received written documentation. Our follow-up of the warning is related to the system level, and we concluded that what we checked was satisfactory.
Oslo Municipality now has only one remaining contract with RA, for round-the-clock services for people over the age of 18 with developmental disabilities.
Stavik says that one person is resident through this agreement, and that the person in question does not live at Stensbyhagen.
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– Many conversations
Municipal manager for health and welfare in Øvre Eiker, Kari Hesselberg, says that the municipality has three inhabitants at Stensbyhagen, and has good routines for follow-up.
– There have been quite a few phone calls, both with the administration and with the residents, says Hesselberg.
She says that RA’s management before Dagbladet’s first articles about the institution, which was published in December last year, contacted the municipality.
When an e-mail about Stensbyhagen came from the State Administrator in May this year, they were therefore aware of the case.
– Since we had the Recovery Academy on the radar, I think we were on that ball, says Hesselberg.
She states that the municipality has not changed or terminated any agreements with RA on the basis of the notice from last year or the e-mail from the State Administrator in May.
– Not worried
According to the director of health and welfare in Fredrikstad, Janka Ekrem Holstad, the municipality takes serious violations of patient rights, regardless of whether it is in private agreements or in the municipality’s own services.
She writes that the municipality carried out unannounced inspections at the Recovery Academy’s residential center Ørmen in August last year, and at Stensbyhagen in November last year.
Then the conclusion was that there is no “related concern to the service offer that Fredrikstad municipality buys from the Recovery Academy”, and that the users are taken care of according to the agreement.
Fredrikstad municipality has four residents at Stensbyhagen, and seven residents elsewhere.
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