Local News, Emergency Services | The proposal for an emergency care agreement is ready – this is how tasks and finances will be

Together with a joint emergency room, there is also the management of acute day care places (KAD places) for both municipalities.

– The proposal for the organization of a joint emergency room has been made based on a decision in the municipal council in Bamble in May last year and a decision in the city council in Porsgrunn from 2021. The work on a joint emergency room is on track, and the plan is that we should be able to have a joint emergency room at Mule up and go in 2026, says committee leader Lillian Elise Esborg Bergane (Ap).

There is close dialogue between the administrations in the two municipalities in this matter, and they do agree that a host municipality collaboration is preferable.

– With the new national requirements coming for emergency services, this will be very positive for both municipalities, says Esborg Bergane.

Porsgrunn hosted

In the decision in Bamble in May last year, the majority in the municipal council states that Bamble municipality will carry out in collaboration with Porsgrunn municipality a main project for the establishment of an inter-municipal emergency room for Porsgrunn and Bamble municipalities. It is established that the inter-municipal ambulance service is organized as a host municipality collaboration with Porsgrunn as the host municipality.

The same was adopted earlier in the city council in Porsgrunn.

– It is these decisions that lie at the bottom when we work on this project, says Esborg Bergane.

She says that after the main committee in Porsgrunn has dealt with the matter of the host municipality cooperation, the matter will be dealt with in Bamble.

– The matter will then go up to the city council in Porsgrunn for final consideration there, and the same in the municipal council in Bamble, she says.

As host, Porsgrunn municipality assumes responsibility for the inter-municipal emergency room and the municipal emergency 24-hour places in both municipalities. They will have employer’s responsibility for the employees in the emergency room and the acute 24-hour places. Porsgrunn municipality will be responsible for making premises and other necessary equipment available.

Economic distribution

In the agreement, a decision will also be taken on how the finances in the operation of the ambulance service are to be distributed between the two municipalities. Porsgrunn municipality will be responsible for 71 per cent of the expenses and Bamble for the remaining 29 per cent.

In the decision of the municipal council in Bamble from May, they state that there will be an additional cost of NOK 348,000 a year for them

– Many variables in the operation of emergency services make it challenging to provide accurate financial calculations, they state in the proposal for an agreement to be processed in Porsgrunn.

At the same time, it is also stated that the co-location of emergency room and emergency 24-hour places in the two municipalities will provide a greater professional environment, which will also provide increased quality and professional expertise.

Practical handling

There are many things that need to be in place when it comes to the practical implementation of the collaboration. According to the proposal to be considered, the two municipalities will work together to determine how the professional administrative work will be done. Use of KAD places, the emergency room as part of the emergency plans in the two municipalities, use of psychosocial crisis teams and many such topics must be included in such an agreement.