The ABC unit at Oslo University Hospital (OUS) is the country’s best-known maternity ward for natural births.
But now it is threatened with closure.
After the management at OUS announced massive cuts in man-years, several shop stewards TV 2 has spoken to say that they see no other way out than that ABC will soon be history.
– We have been told to cut two to four maternity wards. Then it is likely that ABC will have to close, says Anne Hauan Helle, chief shop steward for the Nurses’ Association at the Women’s Clinic.
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A final decision is expected on Thursday next week.
TV 2 has been in contact with the management at OUS who say it is therefore too early to comment at this time.
UNREST: Anne Hauan Helle, chief shop steward for the Nurse ban at the Women’s Clinic says that there is a lot of unrest among the employees these days. Photo: Astrid Hexeberg / TV 2
– Fantastic
Maren Clason is pregnant with her third child and is due on 7 May.
The first two births were done on ABC, which Clason has been delighted with. When she became pregnant for the third time, she and her husband applied early for a place in the same place.
– I think the overall offer they offer is absolutely fantastic. What I have most appreciated is the midwife’s competence and security, she says.
Clason works on a daily basis at the children’s and youth clinic at OUS, and is also the main shop steward. In this case, she speaks as a private person and a woman giving birth.
– Very uncomfortable
ABC has been threatened with closure for a long period. In the autumn, it was decided that they would close at weekends, and that’s when Clason began to feel uneasy.
Would it even be possible to give birth at ABC in May?
– It has been very unpleasant to know that the maternity services I value so much may not be a reality for the third child.
She and her husband therefore decided to look for a plan B.
– I do not doubt the competence of the normal maternity ward at OUS, but I want a midwife present.
Changed hospital
After there has been a storm about major cuts at OUS in the media in the last week, Clason and her husband made a final decision that the birth in May will take place at Kongsvinger hospital.
– OUS will not get any money from me if I am not allowed to give birth at ABC. Then it is rather someone else who gets the profit, she says.
GOOD REPUTATION: Maren Clason says she has heard a lot of good things about the maternity ward at Kongsvinger Hospital. When the possibility of giving birth at ABC disappeared, the choice fell on Kongsvinger. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB
Clason says she is genuinely sorry that ABC could be history in a short time.
– It is absolutely terrible that you are unable to look at it more broadly. It costs so little, and you don’t need any medical equipment.
– I am sorry both for myself and for the midwives who work there.
– A declaration of bankruptcy
Trade union representative Hauan Helle says that there is a lot of unrest among the employees.
– They are terrified and wonder how this will go. After all, they have a desire to deliver a service that is top class, and we think that we deliver at a minimum now, she says.
Clason says she fears many of the midwives at ABC will quit.
– I think it’s terribly sad. It is a declaration of bankruptcy for women’s health that there is no greater focus on letting women choose what kind of maternity care they should have.
– It will be tight
Health and Care Minister Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap) announced in his annual hospital speech this week that hospitals will have less to worry about in 2023.
At OUS, savings of around 3 per cent have now been announced. This corresponds to a cut in 500 man-years. 30 of these are at the Women’s Clinic.
– It will be tight, and therefore you also have to set good professional priorities, and I expect OUS to work on that, as all the rest of the country’s hospitals are also working on now, says the minister to TV 2.
– Is it possible to make such large cuts without the offer to patients deteriorating?
– For me to speculate on every single proposal for cuts now, it won’t be right. OUS has responsibility for the patients in its admission area, including many regional and national patients, and they will also work on that in 2023. But that you have to set some priorities, it is quite obvious when we have price increases and increased costs.
MUST PRIORITIZE: Hospitals must make some hard priorities in the coming time, states the Minister of Health. Photo: Christian Roth Christensen / TV 2
Kjerkol is clear that those who need health care should get it. Regardless of the cuts.
– But we have to make some tough priorities, both because of the financial framework when costs have increased as much as they have, and because we have challenges with access to professionals.
