Hulda Gunnlaugsdottir ends up at Helgeland Hospital - NRK Nordland

It’s the next day for CEO Hulda Gunnlaugsdottir.

On Tuesday, the board was informed that she resigns as CEO of Helgeland Hospital.

Now a job as rector by rector at Lovisenberg diaconal college awaits.

In a longer interview with NRK, she opens up about how time has been.

– One of the most difficult things you do as a leader in the specialist health service is to implement structural decisions in District Norway, Gunnlaugsdottir says.

Loud discussions

It was in 2017 that she got the job at Helgeland.

One of the tasks was to get the “New Helgeland Hospital” in place.

It has not been easy. Helgelendingene has a tradition of arguing, and has previously received the stamp «Northern Norway’s Balkans».

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New major airport and development of E6 is just one of the things that has created conflict over the last ten years.

When, in addition, three hospitals were to be transformed into one, it was hardly unexpected that years of localization debate, high temperatures and strong fronts characterized the director’s work.

– I have been a leader in public enterprises for a long time. I know you always have to find good solutions and compromises. That there are other opinions from other places, must not be taken personally, she says.

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– It is not good that politicians behave like professionals

It is not just the localization debate that has characterized Helgeland Hospital in recent years. One of the most inflamed cases has been the so-called bowel cancer surgery case.

Gunnlaugsdottir is aware that the distribution of functions is in second place over the most difficult things you do as a manager of a health trust.

At the same time, she is aware that this was an issue that should have been addressed before she started.

– What I want to say in this case is that it is not good when lay people or politicians start behaving like professionals. It is also not good when professionals start behaving like politicians.

Background to the cancer surgery case

The riot started in January 2020 when Helgeland Hospital stopped all cancer operations at Sandnessjøen, which is one of the three hospitals that are part of the health trust.
Figures from the National Cancer Registry showed that the mortality rate 100 days after surgery was five times higher at the hospital in Sandnessjøen than the national average.
The operations were already underway again for a week – despite the fact that the head of the hospital’s department opposed this.
The disagreement with the top management made the hospital decide to ask for external help.
In October 2020, the hospital director decided to close the bowel cancer surgery in Sandnessjøen and move all operations to Mo i Rana.
The same month, Helse Nord chose to intervene. They decided that all planned bowel cancer surgery at Helgeland Hospital should be moved to Nordland Hospital.

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– Have you experienced it a lot?

– Many who are laymen, I would say have had big statements. Then I think that my administration has done the best we can, she says and continues:

– Here it is important that professionals must be professionals, and lay people must stick to being lay people.

– Has there been a load?

– Not for me personally, but for Helgeland Hospital. I will not interfere in the municipalities that have been at war for 70-80 years. I can not do anything about it.

Difficult to recruit

According to Gunnlaugsdottir, the loud discussion has made it challenging to recruit specialists to the hospital.

– I can safely say that. We have received feedback on this when we try to recruit specialists.

She is aware that the health trust has only one task. It is to provide the best possible specialist health services to the inhabitants.

– You do not necessarily have to agree on everything. We must agree on how to move forward. That is my higher wish. It is a dilemma when subjects become politics and politics becomes subjects.

– We will make many changes related to where the functions are. We will establish a new main hospital. We will do this together, at the same time as we develop the hospital.

– How to manage to find together?

– I do not have the key. The professionals work very well around the patient. We already see this today between the locations and the clinics. I want to encourage everyone to show respect. It is a minimum principle.

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Good luck

One of those who has been clear in his statements about Helgeland Hospital is Alstahaug mayor Peter Talseth. He admits that he and the hospital director have disagreed on several issues. Among other things, questions about the location of a main hospital.

He points out that specialist health services are important for people’s safety.

– Man can well say that the politicians act as professionals, but we also see professionals who question the assessments Helgeland Hospital has made.

CEO Cecilie Daae writes the following in an e-mail to NRK:

– Hulda has been a committed director at Helgeland Hospital. And she has with great effort contributed to the further development of Helgeland Hospital. We wish her luck in her new, exciting job.

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Hulda Gunnlaugsdottir ends up at Helgeland Hospital – NRK Nordland

Loud discussions

– It is not good that politicians behave like professionals

Difficult to recruit

Good luck

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