– Afraid to stand alone without a GP.
Leanne Nilsen, a mother of three, is fully aware of what’s worse when she and her daughters lose their regular doctor next Monday.
They live in Aiklendzoson, in the municipality of Bjornafjordan, just outside Bergen.
As of Monday, six permanent doctors were missing in the municipality, which has a population of 25,000.
That is, 8,000 people, one-third of those who live there do not have GB.
Without GB – Lea (4) has severe epilepsy and severe chromosomal abnormalities. Even bigger ho without GP.
Photo: Tony Agotnas / NRK
– Does not become a thread in treatment
Nilsson’s youngest daughter has epilepsy and chromosomal abnormalities.
So the family will often be there for the doctor’s help and support.
– As a result, we do not receive local follow-up or medication. No one knows her enough to make a decision at the municipal level. Mom says they don’t dare.
The mother of three is frustrated, though the municipality has promised an interim solution with alternative medicine for patients in need of close follow-up.
– There are new alternatives all the time. There will be no thread in the treatment. If you have children with a comprehensive diagnosis, not only go to new doctors, he says.
She thinks the municipality should have a better solution to what she calls a warning crisis.
Alert Crisis: Leanne Nilsson, a mother of three, thinks the municipality should have come up with a better solution to what it calls a warning crisis.
Photo: Tony Agotnas / NRK
– Municipalities bid on each other
Monica Dotland Melvolt, municipal manager for health and welfare in the municipality of Bijnorfjorden, calls the situation “very complicated.”
“It simply came to our notice then.
Previously, the municipality was on the top list due to the lack of GPs.
But when the two planned medical alternatives took jobs in other municipalities, everything fell into place.
The mayor says there has been a lot of effort to recruit new doctors, but it has been very difficult.
– Municipalities bid on each other in search of GPs. One competes for the same resources, he says.
The problem is: Monica Dotland Melvolt, the municipal manager in the municipality of Bjனாrnfjordan, thinks that something has to happen from the state, thus making it easier to hire cyclists.
Photo: Tony Agotnas / NRK
– GB Drought
NRK has written many GP shortage cases in Norway. In total, 150,000 Norwegians across the country are without GP.
This is often worse in smaller areas where they struggle to appoint doctors.
According to Melvold, the municipality of Bjornafjordan is well aware of this.
In order to make it easier to hire rotation doctors, she thinks something has to happen from the state.
– What the municipalities are in now is completely unsustainable. This is a GB drought. We also do not receive alternatives from temporary agencies.
Read the answers from The Ministry of Health and Care Services is further down in this case.
– Anxiety development
Niles Christian Cleve, a tenant in the General Practitioners Association, knows that municipalities get their own contracts as alternatives to jobs.
– This is a worrying phenomenon, but it is due to the fact that the central government is not taking action to achieve the right GB plan.
He believes the government should be on track with powerful measures to attract a regular doctor.
– As it stands now, municipalities often offer alternatives to permanent employees. This creates dissatisfaction.
He emphasizes that the provision of alternatives by municipalities is often only moderate and cannot be sustained in the long run.
Have to go by boat to the emergency room
In Bjørnafjorden, they have arranged for an interim solution for Eikelandsosen Medical Center, which will lose its two medical alternatives on Monday.
– To help those in need of close follow-up, doctors will set up a cycle program in the coming months, says the municipal manager in Bijnorfjordan.
One of the two emergency departments in the municipality is suffering from a shortage of doctors.
This can mean that some people have to go by boat or drive for an hour to get medical help on the weekends.
– She may have a severe seizure, which can cause brain damage. At worst, she’s not sure she’s with us anymore, says Nilsson.
When asked if there was any solution to this problem, the Municipal Manager replied:
– Not for long. Then the federal government should go in and do something, says Dotland Melvolt.
Not good: It’s not good for any of the citizens. It should not be so. Stephen Leanne Nilsson says something has to happen now.
Photo: Tony Agotnas / NRK
– Take it very seriously
Secretary of State for Health and Care Services Ole Henrik Grot Bjorgold (Labor) says the GP project has deteriorated from bad to worse.
– He says we take this situation very seriously.
According to Bjorgold, they have begun several steps to ensure that everyone has a GP to go to.
The measures include strengthening basic funding and reducing the workload of auxiliary physicians and GPs.
– What is the government doing to ensure a fair distribution of GPS?
– The crisis has lasted for more than ten years. We see how to build the positive aspects of the GB project we have today, while at the same time transforming it into a new era.
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