– I have no quiet days, here it is never a normal week, says GP and mother of four Hege Andreassen (46).
She must, after the children go to bed, sit out towards midnight to finish the administrative work. If she does not work on the weekend, she is “punished” by the fact that it accumulates.
Researcher and GP in Trondheim, Tor Magne Johnsen, says that it is completely normal for a GP to work up to 20 hours of overtime each week.
Both GPs, in their respective cities, agree that the dam is about to burst soon. And newly qualified doctors are not tempted by the constant overload. So recruitment lags. When many now retire, the young people are not ready.
In Molde municipality, as just one of many examples, there is now a lack of six GPs – two of them have been announced since last spring. Romsdal Budstikke writes this on Tuesday.
Was the best job in the world
When Hege Andreassen bought her own practice in 2012 in Bodø, she quickly got 1,400 patients on her list. She describes it as the world’s best job. But the job has taken over.
– Life must consist of more than work, states Andreassen, who has long tried to reduce the number of patients on his list due to the workload.
She was reduced to 1250, but would prefer to have only 1000 patients. But the she does not get.
– The feedback from Bodø municipality is that they simply do not have any other doctors to take over my patients. And a municipality is obliged to provide all its inhabitants with a GP service.
– GP AND RESEARCHER: The GP scheme is under strong pressure, it is like a dam in the health service, and now the dam is leaking, warns doctor Tor Magne Johnsen. Photo: Stein Roar Leite / TV 2
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At NTNU in Trondheim, at the National Center for e-Health Research, doctor Tor Magne Johnsen has researched the GP scheme.
– I would describe the GP scheme as a dam in the health care system, and now the dam is leaking.
Johnsen knows what he’s talking about – he is a regular doctor himself.
Here, the reporter takes a cervical sample live
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– We who have worked for a few years have countless examples of patients we have saved, because we have discovered the disease in time, says Johnsen.
– Having a stable relationship with your GP increases the probability of detecting cancer earlier, or detecting a heart disease earlier, and we also know that the stable connection between doctor and patient affects survival, says Johnsen.
The doctor met the prime ministerial candidate
In a sofa at Øya health center in Trondheim, Jonas Gahr Støre met researcher Tor Magne Johnsen last week. It was an election campaign, and the prime ministerial candidate wanted to sit down to find out more about one of the more heated topics in today’s society.
– We now know that GPs work an average of 20 hours of overtime a week, says Johnsen.
This in turn leads to many giving up, and too few being recruited into the job.
– MAJOR MEETS THE GP GP RESEARCHER: APS ‘prime ministerial candidate agrees with Tor Magne Johnsen that more doctors must be included in the GP scheme. Photo: Stein Roar Leite / TV 2
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– It has impressed me to hear this, and the result of the failure in the GP scheme is that many people do not get the help they need, says Støre.
– If this scheme fails, our social system will change greatly. GPs solve 80-90 percent of the health problems we have, Støre believes.
The Labor leader believes that it is a main point for him to get more doctors into the scheme, for a working day they can live with.
The researcher at NTNU believes that Norway must have 2000 new GPs so that the scheme does not collapse.
– How will you – as perhaps the future prime minister – fix the problem?
– This is not a quick fix that you fix on a first budget, here a plan must be made. We must make a road map in collaboration with the GPs for the way forward.
According to the party leader, the party has included in its alternative budget a sum of NOK 400 million to strengthen the basic funding. And then there is a need for an increase in budgets year by year, he emphasizes.
Neglected by Solberg and Høie
– I think this is something that has been neglected by Solberg and Høie for eight years. The crisis has grown, and warnings have been shouted all the way, says Støre.
– On the contrary, writes Minister of Health Bent Høie in his e-mail response.
Last year, the government launched an action plan of 1.6 billion, and in 2021 the scheme will be strengthened by more than half a billion, according to the Conservative Minister of Health.
– It is a historic strengthening of the GP scheme, Høie writes further.
He adds that “what Støre forgets to say is that with the Labor Party’s tax policy, an average GP will pay 12,000 more in taxes”.
– THE GP GP SCHEME HAS BEEN STRENGTHENED: Minister of Health Bent Høie believes that the Conservatives are well on track with the GP scheme, and cannot see that the Labor Party is coming up with anything particularly new. Photo: Frode Sunde / TV 2
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The Minister of Health agrees that new GPs must be recruited.
– That is why we are making the education scheme (ALIS) for specialists in general medicine a national scheme from 2022. We are earmarking 31 extra new educational positions for doctors who will specialize in general medicine in next year’s state budget.
Høie also sees the need to reduce the workload for doctors.
But he is, not unexpectedly, unimpressed by Støre’s approach to the problem.
– I see little new own policy from the Labor Party, but as usual only criticism.
– FASTLEGEN SAVES LIVES: Tor Magne Johnsen, Midtbyen medical center, believes they have saved many lives. They are the ones who are closest to the patients, and can detect serious illness in time Photo: Stein Roar Leite / TV 2
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– Exploded a couple of years ago
In Bodø, GP Hege Andreassen believes that we are having a very bad time.
– I would say that the GP scheme is in danger of falling apart in a short time.
The mother of four says that she struggles between all the new tasks that fall to the GP. They will follow up the patients, they may have to interact with NAV, and they will get them into the specialist health service – to physiotherapist, psychologist, X-ray, MRI and more.
Here it often stops. The plugs in the system make it difficult to work. Because it is with the GP that they end up again if the gates further into the health service are not opened.
– WORKING LATE AND EARLY: GP Hege Andreassen can easily send his patients a message at midnight. Then she works administratively. Photo: Sigfinn Andersen / TV2
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– It almost exploded a couple of years ago. The co-operation reform has given us new tasks constantly away. In addition to our own patients, we are also required to participate in the emergency room scheme, and also work 20 percent municipal service.
Andreassen would very much like to remain in “the world’s best job”. But she has come into serious doubt – the workload must reduced.
– If the GP scheme is to be maintained, we must have more doctors, who have fewer patients on their list.
Tor Magne Johnsen in Trondheim is in no doubt. He knows several GP colleagues who have chosen to quit due to the high pressure.
– Being a GP can have a far too high price for your health, people have not been able to take it anymore.
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