Professor: Nurses and doctors are in the process of deceiving both municipalities and hospitals

This is what Terje P. Hagen, professor at the Department of Health Management and Health Economics at the University of Oslo, said about the extensive use of substitutes in the health care system at a KS conference earlier this week, writes the Altinget.

Lucrative arrangements from the temp agencies mean that many employees quit and switch to temp services. There, they get far better pay and more flexible arrangements.

The professor calls for coordinated central efforts to overcome the use of temporary workers, which according to Hagen is a major problem for the municipalities, especially in the district municipalities and especially in Northern Norway.

– Both nurses and doctors are in the process of deceiving both municipalities and hospitals. This is what scientists call a prisoner’s dilemma game, he said. When the individual municipality only thinks of itself, the sum is too high for the use of temporary workers, said Hagen.

Municipal director Kjell Hugvik in Bodø municipality says that the municipality spent NOK 30 million on temporary workers in 2021, while this year it could be NOK 120 million.

State Secretary Ellen Rønning-Arnesen (Ap) agrees that a coordinated effort is necessary.

This is not something a single actor can do alone. When we see how the rental culture is now developing, it is a political task for us to also contribute to helping the municipalities with good solutions, she says.