Nurse shortage in Agder – fvn.nr
Agder needs around 2500 nurses towards 2030, and the same from 2030-2040.
According to figures from the Norwegian Nurses Association, we are short of almost 6,000 nurses in Norway now. We have not been good enough in Norway to recruit nurses or health personnel, and the only thing that is clear is that with the same strategy as we have achieved, we will experience a dramatic shortage of nurses and medical personnel in the future.
We must have a radical change in how we see, recruit and pay nurses in Norway in order for us to manage to ensure good staffing in the municipalities in the future, so that we can ensure good health and care in the future.
I want to speak up and different recruitment to ensure good staffing towards 2030. Namely to approach nursing students and newly qualified nurses in Denmark directly. The journey between Kristiansand and Stavanger is about 3.5 hours, and 4.5 hours between Kristiansand and Oslo, while it is 2.5 hours by ferry between Hirtshals and Kristiansand, and 1.5 hours by car from Kristiansand to the western part of Agder, and the same to the eastern part of Agder, so it takes 4 hours in total. With a flexible rotation system and organized accommodation, so expanded in the region’s housing and labor market.
It will be difficult to manage to bring in sufficient labor from our own country within 2030 to cover the nursing needs for Agder, therefore we must bring in necessary personnel from outside the region. And as mentioned, the journey is shorter between Agder and Denmark and between large parts of Agder and Oslo.
The journey between Lister and Denmark is equivalent to Lister and Tønsberg. But one difference that makes me think that Danish nurses will be tempted to relocate is that the salary for a newly qualified nurse in Denmark is NOK 390,000, while a newly qualified nurse in Norway is NOK 650,000.
If we can also manage to offer some kind of rotation as a trial scheme in Norway, then we will manage to crack the code on recruitment in Agder. For example, many workers in the North Sea have a 4-2 shift, while several of our oil companies, such as National Oilwell Varco, spend 2 weeks on, and 2 weeks on its sequels in Poland, where equipment for oil platforms is made. With that arrangement, they are on the job for two weeks in Poland, and for weeks off in Norway.
I will come up with a proposal at the annual meeting of the Agder FRP, and will advocate for allowing North Sea rotations among nurses who want it, and an intensification of recruitment from Denmark to Agder towards 2030.
In the longer term, we must look at how we can increase recruitment from our own county, full-time positions, flexible rotation and increased pay/benefits for Norwegian nurses must be discussed.
If we are to change how we ensure recruitment, then we must have a solution in the short term (Denmark and flexible rotation arrangement), and long term (better pay, benefits, full-time positions for those who want it, part-time for those who want it, and different and more flexible rotations).
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