Elderly care should not be an offsetting item in the budgets

OPINIONS: The pensioners’ party says NO to out-of-pocket payments for transport and practical assistance as well as out-of-pocket costs for the delivery and return of municipal aids Drammen municipality is in financial crisis and must save money.

Four years after the merger with Nedre Eiker and Svelvik, unfortunately the municipality appears as a slightly poorly maintained “Drammenshus”. NOK 150 million is to be saved for operations over the next few years, and the new political leadership in Drammen municipality therefore has a major task when it comes to getting the municipality back on a solid economic course.

In short, the municipality has too little money for all the tasks and good purposes that we would like to have carried out for our citizens. Already in 2024, the municipality must cover a large expected deficit in the operating budget, so that we do not have to spend too much of the municipality’s savings.

Municipal director Trude Andresen has therefore submitted proposals for several cut proposals this spring, and more are coming. The proposals have been submitted for political assessment and it will now be a political task to prioritize which tasks should first be investigated, then assessed and possibly what can be cut.

One of the proposals is to introduce a deductible on the delivery and return of municipal helmet funds as well as the deductible when transporting people, for example to a day care centre. The Pensioners’ Party is unsure of what is in the proposal, as it appears that the municipality is already demanding a deductible of NOK 126 per assignment for driving out and collecting aids, which is defined as practical assistance.

The municipal director denied this in the Main Committee for Health and Care on 23 April, so we have to examine this a little more closely. On the municipality’s Facebook page, Aids and technology, people are encouraged to pick up and return aids themselves. There are many who do not have the opportunity to do this. In addition, the deductible of NOK 126 is confirmed. Has the deductible ceased? Unfortunately, we have not succeeded in getting a clear answer to this, despite the fact that we have approached various bodies in the municipality.

The Pensioners’ Party will be in favor to remove the deductible, or not to reintroduce it. We know that the municipality’s aids are unfortunately often thrown away, for example in connection with a death. Relatives must, for example, sell the deceased’s flat and the municipality does not have the capacity to collect the aid for a while. We therefore want to look into whether a deposit should be introduced for the municipality’s aids, and/or a better system, so that the aids are returned.

It is assumed that the purchase of aids costs the municipality a lot, as it has to be bought new instead of reused. The Municipal Director’s proposal must of course be treated very seriously by the Pensioners’ Party, and we will provide our input for both investigations and improvements.

However, there is one principle we don’t budge. Elderly care should not be an offsetting item in the budgets as long as the Pensioners’ Party is on duty. The elderly wave is upon us and we need to build up care for the elderly that can cope with all the challenges of the time to come. The municipality is already way overtime in this matter.

On behalf of all elderly people in Drammen The Pensioners’ Party therefore demands dignified elderly care rooted in the individual’s physical, psychological and social needs. The statutory tasks must of course not be removed. The quality and scope of the services must not be weakened either.

The Elderly Reform (2023), lays it down for more elderly people to be able to live at home all their lives and for more elderly people to live active and good lives for longer. Then we as a municipality must contribute to ensuring that the finances of the individual should not be decisive for whether or not one has the opportunity to take part in health-promoting activities.

In a new report (Folkeinstituttet 2023) it is claimed that loneliness among the elderly is a significant problem. Lonely elderly people eat less, sleep less, move less, and have an increased risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. In our opinion, this could entail large additional costs for the municipality, costs far in excess of what the municipality can take in as self-payment.

Loneliness comes at a cost to the person concerned and for society. Not just in kroner and øre, but also in your own health and well-being. The new political leadership in Drammen must jointly ensure a steady governance, where effective operation and good interaction will give the municipality good finances for the good of all, and the Pensioners’ Party must contribute to this happening.

But we will continue the work with changing elderly care in the municipality to also be about people, not just money. The Pensioners’ Party is already saying a clear NO to out-of-pocket payments for transport and practical assistance as well as out-of-pocket costs for driving out and returning aids.

Of
Pensioners party Drammen
Randi Eng, group leader
Karianne Lund Gulbrandsen, Main Committee for Health and Care