– 14 days shorter waiting time for patients, according to a press release from the Government.
Norwegian patients are waiting ever shorter for hospital treatment, according to new figures. The average waiting time has decreased by 14 days in this period of government.
Waiting times at hospitals continues to go downwards. Last year the average waiting time is down nine days compared with the year before, according to new figures from the Directorate of Health.
– It is an important goal for us to make the wait for treatment as short as possible for as many patients as possible. Therefore I am very glad that we have succeeded in cutting down on waiting times. The good results are primarily due to remarkable efforts of those who work in hospitals, Minister of Health and Human Services, Bent Høie, said.
More money, more freedom and clearer requirements
He also believes that enhanced patient rights and new ways of performing the work has helped to reduce waiting times.
– The hospitals also have got more money, more freedom and clearer requirements for performance, says Høie.
The Government’s aim has been to get the average waiting time below 65 days. Now this goal has been reached. Last year, the average waiting time at hospitals was 60 days.
Receive assessment and treatment faster
The trend of reduced waiting time is also confirmed by another goal: the wait from a referral has been received in the hospital to the patient has completed a treatment or examination, was reduced by seven days from 2013 to 2015.
The percentage of violations to the standards was 1.4 percent in 2016. This is a decrease of 2.4 percentage points compared to the previous year.
Fewer in hospital queues-
There were 24,000 fewer people waiting for medical care at the end of last year, compared to the previous year.
– There are still too many who are waiting too long for diagnosis and treatment. We therefore continue our efforts to cut waiting times further. We have in 2017 introduced a new indicator whereby we measure whether hospitals are upholding their promises they’ve made to the patients, says Bent Høie.
Source: government.no / Norway Today
