All About The Election#

“It is pointless to buy expensive equipment and not be able to provide that help to those who need it around the clock,” says Sylvi Listhaug to NRK.

The party leader visited Nordlandssykehuset in Bodø today. There, professionals have long fought for a 24-hour service at the so-called PCI lab.

In Northern Norway, there are PCI centres in Tromsø and Bodø that operate on acutely blocked blood vessels.

However, in Bodø, the centre is only open during office hours, and patients who need the operation after closing hours are flown to the University Hospital in Tromsø.

A flight that can delay treatment by several hours.

“The offer to patients in Nordland is insufficient because we have to be closed four out of five hours a year,” explained senior anesthesiologist Erik Waage Nilsen to Listhaug.

Neither in Møre og Romsdal do patients receive PCI treatment at the local hospitals, and must be flown to Trondheim.

In Norway, there are currently only seven hospitals that offer this operation, while in both Sweden and Finland there are over 20 such centres.

Promises PCI Change With Progress Party#

Listhaug on election tour in the north, however, promises change with the Progress Party in government:

— The Progress Party will work both to ensure that we get a PCI centre in Ålesund. And that what is here in Bodø can be used so that patients can also get help after 4:00 p.m.

— But there are a number of professionals, including Helse Nord, who are very clear that it is a good enough offer as it is today?

— It is not a good enough offer when the offer could be so much better. I think it is embarrassing that Norway has such a much worse offer than Finland and Sweden.

Every year, around 13,000 Norwegians have an acute heart attack.

PCI treatment is considered the gold standard for patients who can reach a PCI hospital within 90 minutes.

Visited The Same Hospital At The Same Time#

While Listhaug visited the PCI lab in Bodø, Health Minister Jan Christian Vestre walked around the same hospital corridors to boast about how the government has shortened waiting times in hospitals.

Here he heard about how the average waiting time has been reduced by 16 days at Nordland Hospital in one year.

But Vestre cannot promise that the waiting time is over for those fighting for 24-hour heart treatment in Nordland and Møre og Romsdal.

“I notice that Sylvi Listhaug is now traveling around the country and making a lot of promises to a lot of people. She has to take responsibility for that,” Vestre tells NRK.

“I am most concerned that our citizens receive the best health care, with the best professionals, with the best possible prognosis for survival and also living good lives after such acute events. And then I think that we should have great respect for the assessments that our professionals make.”

Awaiting Investigation#

Recently, the State Administrator concluded that Helse Nord has broken the law in cases where patients in Nordland have received delayed cardiac treatment.

Vestre refers to the fact that Helse Nord (Health Nord) will review the PCI organisation in the autumn.

— Then it may also be relevant to consider new measures if there is a need for it. There has also been some clear feedback from the State Administrator, which Helse Nord is responsible for assessing and maintaining.

– So you are now opening up to expand the offer in Bodø?

– Today I am neither opening up nor excluding anything. It is Helse Nord that is responsible for making the professional assessments of which health services we should have where.

Source: NRK (in Norwegian)