When Midt-Telemark municipality had to hire more GPs in Bø, it was so difficult to fill the positions that they lured GPs with higher salaries and more benefits. They have now hired two doctors from the neighboring municipality of Notodden.
TV 2 has previously written about the great shortage of GPs. Around 150,000 Norwegians are now without a GP. Over a third of the municipalities report challenging or critical health care capacity to GPs.
Now the municipalities must bid on each other to ensure adequate medical services.
– BUDRUNDER: Leader of the General Practitioners Association, Nils Kristian Klev, says municipalities across the country outbid each other to secure GPs. Photo: Sveinung Kyte / TV 2
–
– It shows that we have too few GPs and that there is now a rift about the GPs who want to work like that. The framework conditions that exist today are not good enough, and then the municipalities must outbid each other to attract doctors, says Nils Kristian Klev, who is the leader of the General Practitioners Association.
– CRISIS: Around 150,000 Norwegians are now without a GP, according to Helfo.
–
– Must post again
The large workload has meant that there is a large turnover among GPs in several municipalities. The unit manager for health in Midt-Telemark municipality says that they have struggled to get enough GPs for many years.
– They do not exist. We will not get them, and then we have to post again, says department head in Midt-Telemark municipality, Jørund Verpe, to TV 2.
– LOKKER: Department manager Jørund Verpe in Midt-Telemark municipality has made a number of moves to tempt GPs to work in Bø. Photo: Simen Askjer / TV 2
–
The municipality thus lured with higher wages and more benefits.
Doctors Marte Finborud Tovsrud (31) and Henning Naas (32) were tempted.
They thus change jobs from Notodden to Bø.
– END: One of the last weeks with Marte Finborud Tovsrud around the lunch table in Notodden. Photo: Simen Askjer / TV 2
–
– One is the financial gain, and then there are the working conditions with more freedom for home office and office hours, and more holidays, says Tovsrud (31).
Naas says the lack of doctors has both an upside and a downside.
– It’s nice for us who can change jobs and are in the labor market. This means that we can negotiate terms, but then it is a symptom of a crisis then, says Naas.
– NEW EVERYDAY LIFE: Henning Naas is looking forward to a new everyday life in Bø. Photo: Simen Askjer / TV 2
–
Thus, Notodden had to go on a doctor’s hunt to fill the positions. Verpe in Midt-Telemark admits that the lure has a bad taste.
– Notodden was naturally annoyed by that, but we had to do it to meet our needs, says Verpe.
A money race
Notodden has managed to replace the doctors. They understand that the municipalities take action when they are desperate, but think it’s a shame that it will be a money race.
– HAD TO THINK NEW: In 2015, Notodden made major changes to make it more desirable to work as a GP in the municipality. Photo: Simen Askjer / TV 2
–
– It is clear that it is an unfortunate situation as it has become. That one should knife about the doctors, and that it is the economy that will be decisive in the end. There will be such big differences, says business manager at Tinneberget medical center, Ingrid Helene Smeland.
Bought up the doctor’s offices
Through the GP scheme, everyone has the right to a GP in their municipality. It is the municipalities that are responsible for providing enough GPs.
Most GPs and doctors’ offices have been run privately, but Verpe says that many new doctors do not want to run their own company. They will be municipally employed with the benefits it entails.
Both Midt-Telemark and Notodden have now bought up almost all the private GP homes and converted the positions to municipalities with fixed salaries and a number of social rights, and benefits they did not have as private practitioners.
– We spent a lot of money on recruiting and did not get a single applicant. Then we turned the AS into a municipal employee with a fixed salary and social benefits. GPs thus get more free time, stimulation grants, further education and so on.
Comes with requirements
They both believe that there must be changes from the government that facilitate this better.
– Hiring doctors and giving them good pay and stability means that we no longer have to spend equal amounts on temporary staff. And it is a good economy, even if it is expensive, says Verpe.
–
