End of the corona scheme in the counties – NRK Nordland

The refusal to protest came after the municipality’s ambulance service was forced to return to the “home office”.

They will no longer be allowed to sit at the station together.

– We think it is untenable. It can transcend life and health, says Mona Rist-Nystad, the ambulance staff.

There are vast spaces in the municipality of Stegen in Nordland. There can be up to 30 kilometers between two employees on duty.

But the two on duty only have one ambulance.

– It could mean that at worst we have to wait for each other for more than half an hour.

It was Avisa Nordland who Discuss it first.

I think it is untenable

– After working for about a year and a half on this scheme, we see how bad the scheme we had before was.

During the Corona pandemic, troops were assembled at a single station in the center of the municipality.

It will now be the end of it.

Nystad has worked as an ambulance worker since 2001. She is well acquainted with the previous scheme to guard the house.

– Suppose something happens in my neighborhood, but my partner has an ambulance. If I choose to go out, I may risk being alone with a critically ill patient. It may take up to 30 minutes for the partner to access the device.

She says she often felt powerless at work. Nystad believes the situation is unsustainable.

– Then I stand there with my hands empty. This feeling and that responsibility, getting into a situation I don’t know what it is, I think is unjustified.

Difficult to maintain response time

The Norwegian Parliament decided earlier this year that it should be introduced Ambulance response time requirements.

It should not take more than 25 minutes before the ambulance reaches the areas.

In order to maintain response time at Steigen, requirements are set for where employees can live. They can’t live very far.

If someone gets sick, the system is tested.

The municipality of Stegen is geographically extensive. It’s hard to find staff in ambulances to maintain response time, Mona Nystad says.

They got rid of this problem by collecting them at the city center station.

It receives support from the Labor Party

It is unacceptable that more than half of the ambulance workers have left their jobs. That’s what Nordland Labor’s second candidate, Mona Nielsen, says.

She believes that the accident in Stegen is a symptom that health services in the regions are often affected by unjustified cuts.

– The signal could hardly be clearer. She says the housekeeping scheme is outdated.

She says a solution is necessary, and Nielsen believes the government is to blame for not prioritizing health services in the regions.

That the matter should go so far that Parliament has to decide that the government will carry out this is a bad thing.

Nordland Hospital is looking for new staff

– We have received the dismissals from the staff at Steigen. We find it difficult to lose qualified labor in such an important service to the population.

That’s what Randy Angelsen, director of communications at Nordland Hospital said.

The station guard with additional staff was a scheme created as part of Nordland Hospital’s pandemic preparedness.

On Friday, August 21, emergency preparedness was terminated.

– That is why the scheme is now being phased out in Steigen, as in other areas of the Ambulance Service.

Engelsen says the hospital now has to investigate how the ambulance personnel were organized in a normal state.

– It is the report and the decision of the Board of Directors that will determine which system will be applied in the future to Steigen. In line with other ambulance districts.

In the meantime, they are looking for new employees.

– We will carry out active recruitment work in the Steigen and Hamarøy regions. This is to recruit new employees for service in the region as a whole. Employees have notice periods, and this gives us some time to recruit and find solutions.