The Development of a New Care Service Landscape in Norway

Abstract

Demographic changes, as well as the transfer of medical and caring tasks from specialist to primary care in Norwegian municipalities, have led to changes in care service delivery. So far, we have limited knowledge of how this affects the design of the care services. Based on a semi-structured questionnaire survey, this article presents the development of a new care service landscape in Norway, where municipalities increasingly set up specialized care services for different patient groups and their care needs. This leads to a continuum of care service models from a generalist approach to highly specialized care services. Larger municipalities typically have a higher degree of specialization, indicating that volume is an important prerequisite for specialization. Similarly, a higher degree of specialization corresponds to higher formal competencies in the workforce. To understand the development of the services and the impact on care service delivery, further research is required.

Unpacking Healthcare Professionals’ Work to Achieve Coherence in the Healthcare Journey of Elderly Patients: An Interview Study

“…In recent decades there has been a transfer of rehabilitation and follow up-care tasks from specialist to primary care. 26,27 There is ongoing discussion about the challenges involved in the transfer of these tasks, including the allocation of resources, both financial and in terms of skills and competencies/responsibility. 28,29 A purposive sampling of healthcare professionals who were involved in the care trajectories of the larger research project 25 was chosen.…”

Samhandling og informasjonsflyt når eldre flytter mellom ulike helse- og omsorgstilbud i kommunen

“…Helse-og omsorgstjenestene i kommunene kjennetegnes av en økende grad av spesialisering (Sogstad, Hellesø & Skinner, 2020). Økt spesialisering innebaerer at pasienter med behov for tjenester i tiltagende grad beveger seg mellom ulike tjenestetilbud på det kommunale nivå.…”

“…Gjennom de siste tiårenes reformer har kommunene stadig fått økt ansvar for å yte tjenester (Tingvold & Romøren, 2016). Det økte ansvaret har ført til utvikling av et spekter av spesialiserte tjenester tilpasset ulike brukergrupper og ulike behov (Sogstad, Hellesø & Skinner, 2020). Denne spesialiseringen har også ført til et mer oppstykket pasientforløp for eldre, noe som gjør det vanskeligere å oppnå god samhandling (Grimsmo, Løhre, Røsstad, Gjerde, Heiberg & Steinsbekk, 2016).…”

Nurses' assessments of horizontal collaboration in municipal health and care services for older adults: A cross‐sectional study

“…The general tendency in Norwegian healthcare policy in the last two decades has been focus on quality improvements, coordination and continuity of care, and decentralization of services (Ministry of Health and Care Services, 2006, 2009, 2013, 2018). Recent national reforms such as the Coordination Reform have contributed to many (especially larger) municipalities providing care in specialized short‐term units and home care teams for specific user groups (Sogstad et al, 2020) and an increasing diversification of the workforce, with more nurses pursuing postgraduate education and the growing presence of professional groups such as physio‐ and occupational therapists in the sector (Statistics Norway, 2018). The increase in specialization and diversification in municipal services entails that many older adults have to transfer between different municipal care services to get the help they need (Rostad et al, 2021).…”