When Jan Christian Vestre takes over as Minister of Health and Care after Ingvild Kjerkol, he cannot, like Gudmund Hernes in his time, think about 100 days before he acts. He has to go on the train at speed. Lise Åserud | NTB
When three ministers get new ministries a year before the election campaign is under way, it means a weakening, not a strengthening of the government. A minister needs more than a year to accomplish something significant.
Jan Christian Vestre, Cecilie Myrseth and Marianne Sivertsen Næss are experienced and skilled politicians. They will do well, but it is doubtful whether they will be able to leave their mark.
We all have to be bothered by something. Jan Christian Vestre will be troubled by being Minister of Health and Care.
The big issue in fisheries, the quota notification, has been adopted. Marianne Sivertsen Næss must implement what there is a majority for in the Storting. Even if SV is not on the team, fisheries policy will continue as usual.
Five last managers from Magne Lerø
Jan Christian Vestre has pursued an active business policy, not least verbally. Because he himself has been a company manager, he has acted with credibility even though parts of Bedrifts-Norge have delivered fierce criticism of the government’s business policy. It is primarily linked to the eternal debate about wealth tax.
Cecilie Myrseth’s job will be to continue as best she can where Vestre left off. There are quite a few balls that need to be taken down. Vestre was very vocal about managerial salaries not only in state-owned companies, but also managers in administration should receive the same kroner-based, not percentage-based, supplement as other employees. We haven’t seen much of that.
Not much has happened with grocery prices, even though Vestre has submitted various proposals and proposals.
Nobody expects anything new and anything more from Cecilie Myrseth. Her job is to consolidate and create the conditions for new green industry without gigantic government contributions. This means that she must speak for the industry when it comes to procuring energy and labour.
Beach jackets
We all have to be bothered by something. Jan Christian Vestre will be troubled by being Minister of Health and Care. But it is a nuisance that makes sense, Jonas Gahr Støre has argued with Vestre. Vestre is embarking on an absolutely necessary year at the Prime Minister’s School.
Jan Christian Vestre is politics’ Petter Stordalen. Drive, pace, optimism and an infectious commitment characterize him. It works in meetings with business leaders. Dissatisfaction with taxes and bureaucracy does not take him seriously. Things are going well in Bedrifts-Norge, is his mantra. He points to good results and that new jobs are being created.
Vestre does not need to appear more serious about the responsibility for health and care. The country’s health workers need a minister who believes it is useful. However, Vestre must be careful not to be perceived as a talker.
The West can do business. He is not particularly good at health. It will take time before he gets a hospital and health under his skin. Ingvild Kjerkol has worked with hospital and health issues for eight years. She knew the field well, knew key people – and that is useful for understanding what is going on and what is possible to achieve.
A minister has power and a formal authority. It is not enough. Vestre must appear competent and show that he understands the sector’s challenges. When Gudmund Hernes became Minister of Health in 1996, he gave himself 100 days before coming forward with what he wanted to do. Vestre cannot afford that. He has to go on the train at speed.
Vestre cannot, like Myrseth and Sivertsen Næss, sit back and float on the political course that has been set. There are too many challenges he has to tackle. Ingvild Kjerkol received recognition for what she has achieved during her three years as Minister of Health. She herself delivered the longest list of bragging rights when she was pressured to resign as a minister.
That doesn’t help the West. Even though the government has increased funding for health and care and the GP crisis has largely been resolved, Vestre will not come to the table. The hospitals in Helse Nord are collectively running around NOK one billion in the red. They lack around a thousand employees and spend hundreds of millions on temporary agencies.
No to temp agencies
SV has proposed that the possibility of hiring personnel in the health sector should be tightened. NHO and KS believe that it will make it even more difficult to ensure responsible staffing in the country’s hospitals and elsewhere in the health sector. According to Klassekampen, the governing parties are on the verge of supporting SV’s proposal. This could make it more difficult for Vestre to provide sufficient personnel for the sector.
The lack of staff is the biggest challenge in the health sector. Not many hours passed after Vestre had been handed the key to the Ministry of Health, before Lill Sverresdatter Larsen, head of the Norwegian Nurses’ Association, reminded in a press release that there is a shortage of over 5,350 nurses, specialist nurses and midwives in the Norwegian healthcare system, according to Nav. According to Statistics Norway’s projections, this number will multiply within a few years.
Vestre must come up with changes that enable us to use the workforce in health and care more efficiently. We need to prioritize more strongly. This means that words must be put on what we should not use resources on.
New doubts have arisen about the closure of Ullevål hospital and the new building at Gaustad.
The biggest problem for an effective and energetic politician like Vestre is that he has to govern within the health enterprise model. He has to wait for the regional health authorities. They are the ones who will make the plans for the hospitals within their region. Vestre’s task is to approve and guide the budgets.