In mid-November, a total of five working groups, set up by Helse Nord, submitted their recommendations for a new organization of the hospitals in Northern Norway.
The Helse Nord management has now compiled the conclusions of the five working groups into a comprehensive report.
In the report, the managing director, Marit Lind, recommends removing the emergency surgery at the hospitals in Lofoten and Narvik.
“The managing director has doubted that my recommendation will be to discontinue the emergency surgery function at both Nordlandssykehuset Lofoten and UNN Narvik. The main rationale is to ensure future sustainability,” the report states.
This document will now be discussed with the union representatives.
Communications director at Helse Nord, Skjalg Fjellheim is clear that this is only a discussion draft.
It must be discussed with employee organizations and with patient organizations in Northern Norway, before a case is presented to the board.
– It is precisely a document that has been put forward so that the employees and users can give their answers and be able to make their opinion known before the managing director presents a case to the board.
Skjalg Fjellheim is communications director at Helse Nord.
Photo: Simen Wingstad / NRK
– This is a draft, does that mean that the content can change from the discussion with the union representatives until the report lands on the Helse Nord board?
– It absolutely means that. That is precisely the whole point, that the employees and users should be able to express their views before a case is presented to the board.
– The managing director has doubtless landed on that recommendation. What is in doubt?
– This means that the managing director has had doubts that this was the right decision. Because it will also cause inconvenience to some patients. But as part of the whole, we believe that it was right to promote this as a matter for discussion with the employees and users.
Maintains internal medicine emergency preparedness
As regards the internal medicine emergency response, the Helse Nord management recommends keeping it in Lofoten.
The background is that the majority of internal medicine patients are largely elderly and frail.
Marit Lind is CEO of Helse Nord.
“For these patients, and especially the frail elderly, it will be very burdensome to have to be transported over long distances, especially as recommended between Lofoten and Vesterålen,” the report continues.
“This is the main reason why the managing director, despite the fact that it will have a reduced financial and staffing effect compared to the working group’s majority recommendation, will not recommend reducing the internal medicine emergency functions at Gravdal and in Narvik,” the report also states.
Downgrading maternity ward
In the report from Helse Nord, it is proposed to make changes to the maternity services in both Lofoten and Narvik.
In Lofoten, the head of Helse Nord recommends discontinuing the emergency caesarean section in Lofoten, but that the current birthing room be continued.
In Narvik, on the other hand, it has been proposed to downgrade the current maternity ward to a delivery room.
The new Narvik hospital is currently under construction, and when it opens next year, it may not have emergency surgery – but with emergency internal medicine.
Photo: UNN NARVIK
The Helse Nord chief believes this is a natural consequence of wanting to discontinue the emergency surgery function.
“This entails a strengthening of the maternity ward in Harstad, while at the same time the vulnerability linked to stabilization, recruitment and sustainability is reduced,” the report states.
Former hospital director in Lofoten: – Not unexpected
– This is not unexpected, says former hospital director in Lofoten, Steinar Pleym Pedersen.
He believes that the whole process has been directed towards the discontinuation of emergency surgery in Lofoten and Narvik.
– Here, none of the professionally documented input that has come has been listened to. There has been little ability to listen and take input into the assessment, says Pedersen and adds:
– It says that she has come to that conclusion “under doubt”. It is appalling to hear that a managing director is having doubts about a recommendation that will perhaps destroy large parts of northern Norway.
Steinar Pleym Pedersen was director of Lofoten Hospital until 2008. He says the Helse Nord management’s recommendations were not surprising.
Photo: Andreas Nilsen Trygstad / NRK
Pedersen is nevertheless positive about the future of the hospital at Gravdal.
– It is still a long canvas to paint, but I am quite sure that Lofoten will pass. I do not disregard the fact that Lofoten will come out of this stronger, because tricks and an understanding of statistics have been used which, after re-evaluation, are not correct, says Pedersen.
Recommends a hospital in Helgeland, but does not say anything about where
For Helgeland, the Helse Nord management recommends combining the three emergency hospitals that are currently located in Sandnessjøen, Mo i Rana and Mosjøen into one joint hospital in the region.
“This coincides with previous investigations that have been carried out,” the report states.
But where this should lie, the Helse Nord manager has not decided.
As recently as 2020, Health Minister Bent Høie (H) decided to go from three emergency hospitals to two. Now the Helse Nord manager goes even further, and recommends that you go from three hospitals to just one.
Photo: Helgelandssykehuset HF
“Location of an emergency hospital in Helgeland will come in the next phase, but it is the managing director’s assessment that the future one hospital in Helgeland must have good accessibility for all residents in the company’s catchment area.”
The lack of a decision regarding the location of the emergency hospital in the region also means that the working groups’ recommendations to gather Helgeland’s two district psychiatric centers in one place are not recommended to be carried out until localization is ready.
Right: – A process out of control
– The Minister of Health has started a process that appears to be completely out of control.
This is according to Høyre’s health policy spokesperson Tone Wilhelmsen Trøen.
Tone Wilhelmsen Trøen is health policy spokesperson in the Conservative Party.
Photo: Martin Fønnebø / NRK
– The Conservative Party believes that the current hospital structure with emergency functions must remain in place and voted for the time for rematches to be over. It does not help to retain and recruit professionals to the north.
She believes that removing the emergency services will help to create a greater distance to the health service and less preparedness.
To be finally decided in the spring
But it is far from certain that it will be as the Helse Nord management recommends.
The overall plan must be presented to the board over the New Year, and then the board must decide what will be sent out for public consultation.
After the consultation round, the Helse Nord management must read the consultation input and make any changes.
The matter must then be presented to the board of Helse Nord for a final decision. The case is then expected to end up with Health Minister Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap), who has the final word on the matter.
2023-12-14 17:20:33
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