Patient ombudsman receives 71 complaints about health centers – NRK Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country

Hanne Solum på Ullern Helsehus

In one year, the Patient Ombudsman in Oslo received 71 complaints about health centers in Oslo. Now many politicians are asking for increased staffing.

– I feel that we provide life and health. People get food, medicine and the care they deserve. But that’s a little extra that isn’t enough for us. For example, holding the hand of someone who is worried. We must always run forward, says Hanne Solum, coordinating nurse for NRK at the Ullern Health Center.

NRK mentioned the case this weekend John Swear BoranderWho was admitted to the Ullern Health Center in January this year.

There, he and his relatives described what they described as massive neglect.

Further Oslo newspaper Discusses conditions in the health center west of Oslo.

In Ullern Health Center, 96 patients are distributed in 4 departments, each department has 24 patients.

During the day, each ward has 7 staff members to attend to patients. Additionally, they have 2-3 physiotherapists and 1 doctor per department.

During the night shift, there are 6 staff working on 96 patients. 1 assistant nurse per department for 24 patients and 2 nurses per department for 96 patients.

Ullern Helsehus has been mentioned in several media recently, with survivors believing their family members failed in their treatment.

Photo: Kristoffer Steffensen Lenes / NRK

Solam believes that even with such limited staffing, nurses are able to do their most important work.

But you always go home from work and think you should have done more to care for patients, she says.

– It is important to point out that this is a political system. That’s where decisions are made. We at Ullern Helsehus are not sitting with that decision. Politicians and nursing home should take their responsibility. And I think they may not have taken this responsibility too seriously.

Demands the norm

Today there are no legal requirements for staff in nursing homes and health centers. According to the state administrator in Oslo and Vigen, the administration must ensure that nursing home staff are sufficient to ensure proper functioning.

That’s too bad, believes Lil Sverestator Larsen of the Nurses Association.

Lil Sverestätter Larsen, President of the Norwegian Nurses Association

Lille Sverestätter Larsen, president of the Norwegian Nurses Association, says that understaffing in health centers is a well-known problem.

Photo: Halder Aswal

He calls for a staffing standard, and for politicians to be held accountable for understaffing nursing homes. The union leader believes the problems highlighted by NRK at Ullern Health Center are not unique. Not in Oslo or Norway.

– There is a shortage of staff, which means staff have to run from one crisis situation to another. There are certainly no bad attitudes on the part of the staff, he adds:

– This is a business, management and leadership responsibility that should not fall on a few employees who do their best.

Understaffed, he says, nursing home staff must make difficult priorities on a daily basis.

– For example, you may have one person wearing a full nappy, another with hypoglycemic symptoms, and someone at risk of falling. In addition, medicine should be administered to dying patients. It goes without saying that this is almost impossible with such a small staff for many patients, Larsen tells NRK.

Ullern Health Center

Ullern Helsehus has been mentioned in several media recently, with survivors believing their family members failed in their treatment.

Photo: Kristoffer Steffensen Lenes / NRK

Responds to patient follow-up

The patient ombudsman received 71 complaints in one year at health centers in Oslo.

– Patients report inadequate follow-up when needs arise. When patients do call for help, it takes longer than expected, says Anna Rymin, patient and user representative in Oslo.

Anna Rhyme.

It takes a long time for patients to call for help, says Anna Rymin, the patient and user ombudsman in Oslo.

Photo: Nadir Alam / NRK

He has been hit hard by the issues surrounding the Ullern Health Center in recent days.

– Relatives and patients have suffered a lot here. It’s not the way it should be, Rymin says.

Helge Jagman, director of the Nursing Home Agency, lamented that some patients experience inadequate conditions.

Unfortunately, small and big mistakes happen in health centers, says Jagman.

He believes there must have been 71 complaints from 10,000 seriously ill patients treated at health facilities in the last two years.

Many people find the threshold too high when they want to complain. So efforts are being made to make filing a complaint even easier. All feedback is needed in our ongoing work to strengthen quality.

Nursing Home Agency - Director Helge Jagman

Helge Jagman, director of the Nursing Home Agency, lamented that some patients experience inadequate conditions.

Photo: Bjøringsøy Jansson / NRK too

Robert Stein, a health councilor in Oslo, writes in an email sent through city council secretary Nasir Ahmed that the situation at Ullern Health Center is unacceptable.

– Oslo Health Center has approx. 5,000 patients per year. The number of complaints worries me because there aren’t many. I am concerned whether our elderly are adequately cared for, Stein writes.

The city council also writes that he has now ordered an external review of the health centers and is targeting the Ullern Health Center in addition to several other measures.

Opposition parties have to answer

The Conservative Party, the Liberal Party and the KrF have invited health councilor Robert Stein (Ap) to a hearing at the city council, which will probably take place in January.

Høyre’s Eirik Lae Solberg said 71 complaints in almost two years was a very high number. They are demanding answers from Health Councilor Robert Stein.

He points out that health centers should be an option for frail residents who need to come to care facilities because they can’t stay at home.

Eric Leigh Solberg

Høyre’s Eirik Lae Solberg says it’s important to have enough staff so that people leave a health center better, and not worse.

Photo: Ahmed Dean / NRK

– I think it upsets all of us if they get worse from home. When patients ask for help and don’t get it, you need to empower staff, says Leigh Solberg.

– Is it fair?

– That’s not fair. It is important to have adequate staffing so that people leave a health center feeling better, not worse. The offer at Ullern Health Center is not good enough and we need to do something about it.

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