The health care system in Norway is currently under severe pressure, something they have been since the beginning of the pandemic. In a recent study by the journal Sykepleien showed, among other things, that 72 percent of all nurses in Norway want to change jobs or quit their profession after the pandemic.
– I have seen several colleagues break up. Our guards have been impossible to solve at times, and there has been an enormous amount of overtime, says Magnus Helgesen (30) to Dagbladet.
Dagbladet has talked to Helgesen (30), who works as an intensive care nurse at Rikshospitalet. He tells how hard it has been in the job as a nurse during the pandemic.
– When the pandemic started, I finished my education as an intensive care nurse. It was exciting to work during the pandemic in the beginning, but it disappeared very quickly. After a while we were left with a feeling of hopelessness.
– 3000 overtime hours
Helgesen says that 3,000 overtime hours have been worked in his department in September and October alone.
This corresponds to 51 extra shifts each week. These are overtime hours of intensive care nurses, where the majority already work in 100 percent positions. It does not testify to a solid Norwegian healthcare system.
Helgesen, who on Sunday celebrated his 30th birthday on a 12-hour night shift, says that many have felt congested during the pandemic.
– There have been several cases where you have been completely exhausted after several extra hours on duty, where you are still asked to work several hours. If many of us say no, the consequences can be that very seriously ill patients do not receive the health care they need. Then it becomes difficult to say no.
– We see that more nurses in Denmark are tired of the congestion and more are now calling for a collective dismissal. Is there anything you have considered in Norway?
– I have thought the idea, but do not make myself do it. What should our employers do then?
– Do you feel that your quality of life has been weakened during the pandemic?
DO NOT GIVE UP: Magnus Helgesen has had to deal with enormous pressure as an intensive care nurse during the pandemic. Photo: Private.
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– Yes. When we are in a period that lasts so long, with so much work, then the energy disappears for other things that life should really consist of.
– Mentally, for long periods I have felt exhausted and empty, almost apathetic, in a way. Several times before the shift I stand and motivate myself as best I can. It’s very heavy.
Helgesen says that he lives with a nurse at Ullevål who also works with covid patients. This has helped them both understand each other and the stress they have experienced during this period.
Now the cohabitants are expecting children, and he can not imagine what it would have been like to go through what they have been through, if they had had a child during the pandemic.
– I certainly do not stand out. I think all nurses have had it as hard as me, some much worse.
– Ulmer
The leader of the Norwegian Nurses’ Association, Lill Sverresdatter Larsen, has recently tried to put pressure on several teams that can affect the health and care sector in Norway.
She believes that measures must be taken to improve nurses’ working conditions immediately.
After the news of the Danish event, where a nurse called for a collective dismissal, Larsen has gone out on Facebook, where she points a sharp finger at politicians and employers. She is clear on where the responsibility lies.
– The frustration is enormous in Denmark, and this is smoldering in Norway as well. This is about the lack of nurses. It’s about a huge overload over a long period of time. What is completely incomprehensible is that politicians nationally and in the municipalities, as well as employers such as Spekter and KS do not take the nurses’ frustration seriously, Larsen writes.
– Would be illegal
She can not understand why those responsible for the health sector are not doing enough to solve the major capacity problems in the health services.
– We are among the richest countries in the world, but not self-sufficient in nurses? I receive a number of inquiries as to why the Norwegian Nurses’ Association does not arrange such actions, and I answer everyone that it would be illegal and unlawful.
– Politicians, hear us and make the necessary decisions to ensure the population’s public health service. Employers, you must lead! Do what you can to keep and mobilize nurses back to work, Larsen writes in the post.
See the answer to Spekter and KS further down in the case.
WANTS CHANGE: Lill Sverresdatter Larsen, leader of the Norwegian Nurses’ Association, reacts to how little has been done to make working conditions easier for nurses in Norway. Photo: Bjørn Langsem / Dagbladet
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Kjerkol: – Use for all of you
Dagbladet has contacted Minister of Health and Care Services Ingvild Kjerkol, to hear about Larsen’s Facebook post.
– I understand that it is demanding to be in a pandemic for such a long time. The situation is still unpredictable, and there is a lot of pressure on the health service in many places now. Many still fear great pressure in the future, and some are considering quitting, Kjerkol tells Dagbladet.
– I want to tell them that we need you all. I want to thank the nurses and all other health professionals for the great effort that is put in.
Kjerkol believes that Larsen’s post also shows that the situation in Norway is not unique.
– Many countries are struggling with the same challenges, which shows that there is no easy solution.
– Do you have plans to take any measures as soon as possible to make the conditions better for the nurses?
– It is important that employers and those responsible for the services take good care of the employees. Good dialogue between the management, shop stewards and the security service is central here.
Kjerkol also adds that there have been long-term challenges in recruiting and retaining nurses, even before the pandemic.
– This government will do something about it. We must both be able to handle the pandemic, at the same time as we equip our health services with enough professionals in the future. We will consider new national measures to ensure the recruitment of nurses, especially to district municipalities that are struggling with recruitment, says Kjerkol.
She explains that they will solve this with a health personnel commission they have initiated, to promote measures to train, recruit and retain qualified health personnel across the country.
WILL MAKE CHANGE: Minister of Health and Care Services Ingvild Kjerkol says that the new government wants to make a change, in order to be able to recruit new nurses, as well as keep current employees in shape. Photo: Hans Arne Vedlog / Dagbladet
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– This has not been done in a short time, but it is a work that we have started with and which has a high priority for the government. I also want a dialogue with the parties in working life about other measures, says Kjerkol.
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– Local agreements on increased compensation
Spekter’s communications manager, Ingvild Dahl Dørnes, tells Dagbladet that the health trusts arrange the operation so that it will always be safe and secure to be a patient at Norwegian hospitals. She says that they also have a close dialogue with the organizations’ shop stewards in the work of ensuring that there are enough personnel with the competence the health trusts need at work.
– In several health trusts, local agreements have been entered into for increased wage compensation for extra work, and we experience that solutions are found that ensure that there is sufficient staff at work in the health trusts, Dørnes tells Dagbladet.
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– Violent load
Tor Arne Gangsø, working life director in the municipal sector’s interest and employer organization, says that they have seen that the strong and long-lasting corona pandemic has created a tremendous burden on both the state and municipal health services.
– They have been society’s first line in the fight against the virus. It is clear that many are very tired now and frustrated with the situation – especially when the infection and hospitalizations increase again. The pandemic is not over, says Gangsø to Dagbladet.
Do you have plans to take any measures to improve the conditions for the nurses?
– Even the health care system in Norway cannot be dimensioned for a state of emergency such as the corona pandemic. But even in more normal times, it is very challenging for many municipalities to recruit nurses and other health personnel – especially because the number of sick and elderly in need of care will increase sharply.
– KS collaborates with the Norwegian Nurses’ Association and other employee organizations in several projects to recruit and retain health personnel. Many municipalities go to great lengths to attract nurses.
100 new bureaucrats
Gangsø says that they must offer good professional and working environments, more people must work in full-time positions and that nurses must be allowed to do nursing tasks when they are at work.
– At the same time, we must organize the work smarter in the municipalities, cooperate better with the state and adopt new welfare technology. It is absolutely crucial for the municipalities to solve these challenges, we have a responsibility to provide the inhabitants with good health and care services.
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