Alta is in dialogue with Aleris about establishing healthcare services – NRK Troms and Finnmark

– We turn over all stones to get a better health service in Alta, and this is one of the stones we turn over, says Ole Steinar Østlyngen in Alta Arbeiderparti (Ap).

Alta municipality, which is governed by Ap, the Center Party and the Left, has entered into a dialogue with Aleris about establishing a private hospital service

However, something like that is on a collision course with the government’s strategy for smaller private health services.

But in Alta, both people and politicians are frustrated with the local public health service, which has been greatly weakened in a short time. Finnmarkssykehuset has moved parts of the offer from Alta to Hammerfest, in order to gain control over runaway finances.

– Ideally, you would have a public health service that could take care of everyone, but that is not the case. Services to the population come before everything, and I hope that it will be realised, says Østlyngen about getting private healthcare services in place.

It was Altaposten that mentioned this case first.

Does not support flirting with Aleris

Nevertheless, not everyone thought it was a good solution for Alta municipality to actively step in to get a private healthcare provider to establish itself.

– In the short term you can help someone, but in the long term we are destroying the foundations of the public healthcare system, says Knut Ingar OIsen in Rødt in Alta.

He thought the action of the municipality seemed desperate.

– Health is a public responsibility. If Aleris establishes itself here, we will continue to create a two-part healthcare system. That is not the solution in Alta.

Can create differences

Nor is the government impressed by the messages coming from Finnmark’s most populous municipality.

– Using resources to build up a completely private service will not provide a better treatment service for the population. Only to those who can pay out of their own pocket, write State Secretary Karl Kristian Bekeng (Ap) in the Ministry of Health and Care.

In an e-mail to NRK, he explains that dThis is a case about the state-funded specialist health services that will cover the whole of Finnmark, and not just Alta.

– Therefore, this is not about ideology, but about ensuring that the entire population has access to publicly funded health services.

The State Secretary states that the aim of the measures now being taken throughout northern Norway is to provide people with a better health service. Bekeng points out that dit is well known that the hospitals in Helse Nord and Finnmark have challenges in terms of staffing and recruitment, missed deadlines and long waiting lists.

This in turn has consequences for the service that the hospitals can offer the population in the region. The sum of the challenges means that the finances of Helse Nord are no longer sustainable, and changes are necessary.

– Professionals are a scarce resource in Health Norway and the government believes that this resource must primarily be used to ensure good treatment within a reasonable time. The aim of the changes in Helse Nord is to ensure access to good treatment in Northern Norway and that waiting times are reduced.

The Finnmark medical association also believes that the day surgery in Alta is being closed on failing grounds.

Rose Ap politicians

Managing director of Aleris, Anita Tunold, says that it is very positive that Alta municipality has started a dialogue with them.

– First of all, I would like to praise the Labor Party politicians in Alta for taking the initiative to talk to us, to ensure better health services for the population.

Tunold believes that the local politicians have listened to the population. She refers to a survey conducted by Kantar.

– 8 out of 10 want closer cooperation between public and private hospitals to solve the challenges in the health service.

Tunold tells NRK that Aleris has been contacted by several municipalities about cooperation. For the time being, it is uncertain whether Aleris will establish itself in Alta municipality.

– If we are to establish ourselves somewhere, then we must establish a good offer in terms of quality and that it is also financially sound. Those are our principles wherever we go.