The debate has raged after the NRK Brennpunkt documentary «Care behind closed doors», where care for the elderly in several places in Norway was investigated using a hidden camera.
Here it emerged that several elderly people did not get the help they should have had.
The documentary shows, among other things, a patient whose nappy is changed twice in one day. In some cases, 17 to 24 hours pass between each nappy change.
In retrospect, Minister of Health Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap) has said that people must act more to plan for your own old age.
– A betrayal
This caused former Minister of Justice for the Labor Party and author Anne Holt to react.
– We no longer pick up those who fell. It is a betrayal of social democracy! Holt wins in the Debate.
There she met Health Minister Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap).
The debate comes after the Brennpunkt documentary “Care behind closed doors” last week.
Holt thinks Kjerkol’s advice is good for those who have the opportunity.
– But the key word here is “can do it”. It’s horribly expensive.
She pointed out that the elderly population and problems in elderly care are not a new crisis.
– It is not your fault that it looks like this, but you are the one on duty right now, and therefore it is your responsibility, she says to Kjerkol.
Holt previously came out with this criticism in a Facebook post.
Anne Holt believes that the advice to the Minister of Health is only to help the rich.
Photo: Anton Lier
She concluded the post by suggesting that the council is “a knee-jerk reaction to a society with differences that I thought the Labor Party had devoted the last 136 years to fighting”.
Over 1,200 reactions have been left on the post, which has been shared more than 300 times.
– As minister for care, you are primarily responsible for those who need help. Those of us who can manage at home and can afford this ourselves are not primarily the responsibility of the Minister of Health, says Holt in the studio.
– That’s why I’m so provoked by this trick about “taking care of oneself”.
Kjerkol: The state must contribute
The Minister of Health believes Holt has misunderstood her message and is taking it too far.
– If you have a home, you must think about whether this is a home that is good to grow old in, and then the state must contribute with some remedy if it is not possible for you to make the home age-friendly, says Kjerkol.
She therefore believes that several of those who have the opportunity to do so should plan more for their old age.
Elderly care is the topic of the Debate. Look at him here.
Furthermore, she says that taking care of the elderly is both a responsibility for the individual who has the ability to do so, and the community, which must stand up so that more people get help.
– I would like to repeat that it is professionals who provide services. They are the ones who provide the health care and I must ensure that I have good access to the most important resource. Those who need a hospital place, they should get it, says Kjerkol.
She says the Brennpunkt documentary shows that there are people who receive care at home, who should obviously have received round-the-clock security in an institution.
When asked why she chose to respond to the criticism as she has done up until now, Kjerkol says that she had not seen the Brennpunkt documentary before she was asked to comment on the matter.
– I feel that someone has interpreted me in the worst sense, and I regret that, says Kjerkol.
Unreported deviations
The Brennpunkt documentary revealed deviations in home care services in several places in the country, and showed how much pressure the elderly care workers are under on time.
Assistant nurse Elisabeth Andersson in Larvik works at a certified Living Joy Home, but describes everyday life as a rat race.
NRK asked for statistics on deviations in each municipality in the country. The speech was surprising. It turned out that more deviations were reported in the municipalities with more employees per patient.
In the documentary, one of the relatives shows a photo she has taken of her elderly mother, who has suffered malnutrition, coercion and lack of control over medication. This is one of the problems in Norwegian nursing homes.
Photo: NRK
With the help of the hidden camera, one could see that the staff left the patients before they had checked whether they had taken the medicine or eaten the food.
This often resulted in the patient not eating the food or taking the medicine. The journal nevertheless showed that the job was done.