Municipalities in Norway Are Not Prepared for the Wave of Elderly People
The wave of elderly people is here, but Norwegian municipalities are far from prepared for what is coming. The Norwegian Audit Office believes the consequences could be serious.
“Norwegian municipalities are not sufficiently prepared for what is coming,” says Auditor General Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen.
The important role of municipalities in meeting the large increase in the number of elderly people has been a topic in reports to the Storting and plans from the Ministry of Health and Care Services for 20 years.
During this period, there have been 350,000 more residents over the age of 67. In just seven years, the number of elderly people over 80 years of age will have increased by 50 percent compared to 2024.
The criticism comes in a report that the Office of the Auditor General presented on Tuesday.
There Will Be Too Few Employees
“45 out of 60 municipalities, or 3 out of 4, have or will have recruitment challenges,” says the Auditor General.
“We rarely speak in such capital letters as this. But this is serious. I must admit that I was very surprised when I saw these figures,” the Auditor General states in the press release.
Serious Consequences
The Office of the Auditor General believes that the municipalities’ lack of planning can have serious consequences for the residents, for the municipalities and for the entire health and care sector.
The report shows that more than half of the municipalities do not plan to increase the number of nursing home or care homes.
According to the report, the municipal health and care services are not sufficiently dimensioned to meet the increase in the number of elderly people.
“There is a risk of failure in the municipal health and care services for the elderly. The municipalities are not planning systematically for the future,” says the Norwegian Audit Office.
Vestre: Everyone Should Receive Safe Care
“We take the report very seriously,” says Minister of Health and Care Jan Christian Vestre to NRK.
He says he agrees with both the analyses and recommendations in the report.
“We will also have a close dialogue with the municipal sector on how we can collaborate to improve this situation.”
He acknowledges that there are too large differences in services from municipality to municipality.
“The most important thing is that we must achieve more consistent quality in health and care services for the elderly,” says Vestre.
“There are too many differences in how municipalities follow up on their statutory tasks. The government will of course follow up on the report from the Office of the Auditor General,” says the minister.
Vestre points out that it is the municipalities that are responsible for municipal services, but acknowledges that the recruitment problem will only increase in the coming years.
“On Friday, the government will present a health personnel plan with over 100 measures to ensure enough personnel in the health services up to 2040.”
Progress Party: Most Serious in a Long Time
“This report is the most serious thing I have read in a long time. The Office of the Auditor General confirms what the Progress Party has warned about for a long time, namely that the municipalities are not at all ready to meet the increase in the number of elderly people.”
This is stated by Kristian August Eilertsen, health policy spokesperson for the Progress Party in a press release.
“We are nowhere near having enough nursing home places and care homes.”
Important to Nuance the Picture
The local government sector organization believes that the report is a serious reminder of the major challenges facing society. Nevertheless, it is important to nuance the dark picture, the organization believes.
“The Office of the Auditor General points to the right challenges, but the report only captures to a limited extent the major restructuring that is already underway in the municipalities,” states chairwoman Gunn Marit Helgesen in a press release.
“The major restructuring we are in the midst of takes time.”
She believes that the report does not fully take into account that the elderly are in better health and are healthier than before. In addition, older people are living at home longer, in line with their own wishes, and this has led to a shift in which good home services, prevention, rehabilitation and welfare technology are becoming increasingly important.
LHL: The Patients Who Pay the Price
“We can adopt as many plans as we want, but without enough professionals with the right expertise, it will be difficult to ensure older people the security and quality they are entitled to,” says Magne Wang Fredriksen, Secretary General of LHL, in a press release.
He believes it is extra serious that the challenges have been known for many years, without any planning for the coming wave of older people.
The association writes in a press release that more must be invested in prevention, rehabilitation, home services and expertise.
“It is certainly a good idea to prevent better,” responds the Minister of Health.
He says the government has already introduced several measures to deal with an increasingly older population who are also living at home longer.
“But the sum of these measures is probably not enough. Therefore, we simply have to do even more in the years to come,” says Vestre.
Source: NRK (in Norwegian)