Health professional Camilla is employed in a position of 14.08 per cent in Enebakk municipality

The short version

Camilla Lie (26) is a healthcare worker and has a permanent position of 14.08 per cent in Enebakk municipality.
In the last five years, almost 110,000 positions have been advertised for healthcare workers. According to the Trade Union, only 19 percent of them were full-time positions.
The health service is short of people and one solution that has been pointed to is to get more professional groups into the service. As healthcare professionals.

Camilla Lie (26) loves her job as a healthcare worker.

– I am very passionate about my profession and have a lot of pride in it. You get to use both your head and your body, says Lie.

She graduated in 2018, but has never held a full-time position. Now she has a permanent job at 14.08 per cent in Enebakk municipality.

– It is completely nonsense. I cannot understand that such small positions are necessary, says Lie, who is also a shop steward for the Trade Union in Enebakk.

Photo: Gisle Oddstad / VG

To make ends meet, she takes extra shifts and has an on-call job at a school in the municipality.

When planning shifts, she often gets more work than 14.08 per cent, but how much varies.

For her, it is burdensome that everyday life is so uncertain, but she thinks primarily of the patients.

– They need security. They don’t get that when there are so many different employees in small positions, says Lie.

Municipal manager for health and coping in Enebakk, Sissel Ruud-Hansen, says they strive to give all their healthcare workers full positions.

– However, this cannot always be resolved, as employees may have requests such as specific shifts and times which must be seen in a solitaire with many others and which therefore cannot always be accommodated. In other words, there are many considerations that must be taken into account, says Ruud-Hansen.

Ruud-Hansen says the municipality is keen to have a close dialogue with the employees and that they go the extra mile – both for the employees and the residents.

– The residents’ needs are always in focus, as they are the entire basis for our service, says Ruud-Hansen.

Major shortage of health personnel

The trade union monitors all advertised positions for healthcare workers.

In the last five years, almost 110,000 positions have been advertised. According to the Trade Union, only 19 percent of them were full-time positions.

– Unfortunately, Camilla’s situation is not unique. Norway depends on many young people choosing careers in the healthcare system. Then we must have something more to offer them than small part-time positions and unpredictable shifts, says leader of the Trade Union Mette Nord.

– They must get full, permanent positions that they can live off of, says Nord.

A recent report shows that every year there are 30,000 employees who want a higher percentage of employment.

<-Mette Nord

Leader of the Trade Union

At the same time that Camilla Lie wants a full-time position, the healthcare system is crying out for people. The need for healthcare personnel is only going to increase as the population ages.

One of the proposed solutions is to bring more specialist groups into the health service. As healthcare professionals.

– The Health Commission, the Minister of Health and others point out that the health professional is important for solving many of the challenges in the health sector, but this requires that we give them full and permanent positions, says Nord.

– Painful to stand in

A major problem in the healthcare system is that many people leave the profession.

Although Camilla Lie loves her job, she does not imagine that she can continue in such a small position for a long time.

– It is so painful to stand when you are so committed to the job and want to do it as well as you can, but then you don’t get the opportunity, says Lie.