The Healthcare Personnel Commission delivers its report
Press release | Date: 02/02/2023 | Last updated: 08/03/2023 | Ministry of Health and Care Services
On Thursday 2 February, the Minister of Health and Care Services, Ingvild Kjerkol, delivered the Healthcare Personnel Commission’s report titled Time to Act: Personnel in a sustainable health and care service.
The committee was led by Gunnar Bovim, the former principal of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and chief executive officer of the Central Norway Regional Health Authority.
The Healthcare Personnel Commission has prepared a comprehensive and knowledge-based assessment of the needs of skilled workers in the sector and of the competence required in the health and care services from now through to 2040. The commission has also proposed measures for the education, recruitment and retaining of qualified professionals within the health and care services across the country, in order to tackle the challenges the country faces in both the short and long term.
“The Healthcare Personnel Commission has provided us with a description of reality that we must take seriously, and itself states that the measures were established at the right time. I thank them for their important report. The report shows that it is now time to act. Together, we must provide security, both for those who have built the welfare state, and for the generations to come. Specifically, we need more skilled workers, more full-time workers, and better cooperation between the municipal healthcare services and the hospitals, such that we continue to offer a sustainable, world-class healthcare service – our shared healthcare service,” the Minister of Health and Care Services, Ingvild Kjerkol, stated.
The education system is a key element in contributing to good health and care services, and in equipping the service’s most important resource – its workers – for the vital job they will eventually perform.
“The committee confirmed that we will run out of people before we run out of money. This means that we can’t just educate ourselves out of the challenges we’re facing. Equally important is that we ensure that the content of the training we provide meets the specific needs of the health and care services. Going forward then, it will be crucial that we look at how we can remove obstacles for the capacity of our education, and lay a solid foundation for the much needed restructuring to be carried out, both in the healthcare services and in society,” the Minister of Research and Higher Education, Ola Borten Moe added.
The NOU to be sent to a consultation (in Norwegian)
The Healthcare Personnel Commission was appointed by the government in December 2021 and consists of:
- Gunnar Bovim (chairman)
- Anne Turid Wikdahl
- Magne Nicolaisen
- Kristin Kornelia Utne
- Iren Mari Luther
- Torbjørn Solberg
- Rebwar Salar Nori Saleh
- Lizzie Irene Ruud Thorkildsen
- Magne Wang Fredriksen
- Marit Karlsen
- Lisbeth Sommervoll
- Ellen Margrethe Hoxmark
- Vegard Iversen
- Anne-Grethe Naustdal
- Olav Helge Førde
- Morten Dæhlen