Free speech, Halden municipality | It is easy to understand the fear. The task is formidable

No.

It is easy to answer the question in the preamble so briefly and firmly.

Could our leader stop there?

Politics is rarely about solid answers. At first glance, the most debated of the proposals from Agenda Kaupang may seem like pure madness.

Reduce the number of nursing home places when more than 30 Haldense residents are waiting in line and we know that we have only just experienced the first ripples of the giant wave of elderly people that will wash with great force over our country in the coming decades?

It is no wonder that the proposal provokes.

The report

The consultants in Agenda Kaupang were tasked in November last year with a deep dive into how Halden municipality solves its health and coping tasks.

On Thursday, they presented their 59-page long report.

“It is important that the analysis basis is read in its entirety, so that individual findings are not taken out of context.” is one of the first things written in the introduction to the report.

In the face of headlines in cases from the local newspaper or comment fields on Facebook, the call appears impossible. Nor should all the city’s residents have to read the entire report. That is what we have both the local newspaper, a municipal administration and not least the town’s elected officials for.

And when you do that, i.e. read the entire report, Agenda Kaupang’s recommendation to reduce the number of nursing home places does not appear to be pure madness.

It still appears controversial. And provocative.

But still as an outlined alternative with a good justification.

Halden is a low-income municipality. We are forced to stretch the rope further than others, as the State finances health expenditure today.

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Who really needs the most help?

Agenda Kaupang’s analysis shows that Halden municipality does not have more residents than the average today with care needs, but that we spend a greater proportion of our health expenditure on what is most expensive: places in institutions.

It is not just in Halden that there is talk of the elderly being able to stay at home for as long as possible. It is a national need and goal.

But what is home?

If we define it as a detached house or a terraced house outside the center of Halden with stairs, several floors and high door thresholds, then it quickly becomes a place that many elderly people and their relatives feel is impossible as a home.

Residential stairs

The graphic below is taken from the report. It is detailed and comprehensive. But important.

Most likely, you are now reading on a mobile phone. 80 percent of our readers do. Then you can use two fingers and zoom in on the picture below.

Closing down 40 nursing home places in Halden in the next few years can only appear as a proposal with realism and sense if the municipality AND the wider community in Halden manage to raise the quality in steps 1,3,4 and 5 of the housing ladder in the picture above.

Those who are getting older in Halden today have little choice beyond staying in their own home or moving to an ordinary apartment which may be universally designed, but no more adapted to the elderly than other people looking for an apartment.

About 15 years ago there was a lot of focus on the elderly collective in the news. And in 2013, the National Association of Homeowners published the report “Eldrekollektiv – a solution to the mess in the housing market?”

By then there were already over 200 such in Denmark, but a small number in Norway.

In 2012, Aftenposten asked its readers if they would like to live in a collective with other elderly people. 60 percent answered yes.

But 12 years later, there are still only a few elderly collectives in Norway.

If we are to close nursing home places in Halden at the same time as the number of elderly residents grows and there will be fewer Halden residents of working age to finance our health expenses, we are completely dependent on not only the municipality, but also the city’s real estate players who see the potential in and take responsibility for developing the elderly collective .

The municipality is partially underway in Hagegata on the Nordsiden. And in April last year, property developer Marie Montelius Norderhaug told about exciting plans for a “village” with 200 homes on Grimsrødhøgda with the main emphasis on senior housing.

– Many elderly people experience loneliness. Here we want to plan for housing with shared functions such as social arenas and training rooms, as well as common areas outside and inside. Simply surroundings that invite conversation and community, said Norderhaug to HA.

Although Halden’s population is getting older, the residents between the ages of 67 and 80 are gradually becoming more resourceful, have better finances, better living conditions, higher education and better health than previous generations. They also want to take greater responsibility for their own health, Agenda Kaupang points out in its report.

If the municipality and housing developers in Halden give the residents of Halden this opportunity, the proposal to cut the number of nursing home places in Halden does not appear to be pure madness.

But the logical flaw is still there.

With the current level of care for the elderly in Halden, there will be a need for 63 more places in 2030. And as many as 217 in 2040.

Halden municipality does not have the carrying capacity for that.

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– The politicians have no choice. It’s just a matter of getting started!

Halden is in arrears

It is crucial that the municipality is able to spend a smaller proportion of the health budget on institutional places and a larger proportion on measures and services that enable more of us to be able to take care of our own health and live well and happily in our own and well-adapted homes.

Agenda Kaupang states that the municipality has not adequately prepared for this.

The task is formidable. The municipality and the Halden community are already in arrears. We remind you that it is only four years since the last major report. At the time, it was PwC that published an 86-page long report on “Future elderly care in Halden municipality”.

It is easy to understand the fear expressed in 86-year-old Tulle Hveding’s Fritt Ord post on Friday.

– Actually, I’m a little scared – on behalf of all of us older people, she writes.

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I’m scared today – on behalf of all of us seniors!

The debate about tomorrow’s elderly care must not be solely about the number of nursing home places, but turn to how Halden and the wider community can facilitate more Halden residents living good lives as elderly people as far down the housing ladder as possible, as you may remember from the picture further up.

Then we will also ensure that those who are most in need of help receive good services.

And that there will be a little less reason to feel the fear that Tulle Hveding expresses.