You cannot give good care if you are exhausted yourself. Health policy starts with working conditions.
Health services must be public and accessible to everyone. But it is hard to argue that today's organisation is optimal. From the media and from employees themselves, it looks like exploitation of individuals and management that does not work.
You cannot give good care if you are worn out. Health policy starts with the working conditions of the people who do the work — nurses, health care workers, doctors.
The Working Environment Act applies in health care too. Double shifts, understaffing, and managers who steer by budget instead of people — that is not efficiency, it is exploitation. And we all pay for it through sick leave, turnover, and worse treatment.
We want health care workers to have predictable schedules, adequate staffing, and a daily work life that is sustainable over an entire career.
Core health services must be public. There is room for private supplements, but no privatisation of what everyone needs access to.
And not the same doctors in both systems. When specialists work half-time in the public system and half-time privately, it is the public offering that loses. Public patients wait longer, while those who can pay jump the queue.
We want clear boundaries between public and private health services, so that the public system actually works for everyone — regardless of their wallet.
Lifting aids, digital patient records that actually work, and AI-assisted diagnostics are not luxuries. They are investments in a workforce that can last.
Norwegian health care workers suffer disproportionately from musculoskeletal injuries. Every year, thousands leave the profession not because they lost their motivation, but because their bodies gave out. Technology that reduces physical strain extends careers and improves care.
We will prioritise technology that serves the staff — not technology that creates more paperwork. Every new system should pass a simple test: does it make the workday better or worse for the person on the floor?
Patients who see the same nurse or doctor across visits get better care. Continuity is not a luxury — it is a quality measure.
In municipal health services and nursing homes, staffing often relies on temporary workers and rotating shifts. The result: patients meet a new face every time, staff never build relationships, and mistakes increase. This is expensive and it is bad medicine.
We will promote staffing models that prioritise continuity — fewer temporary positions, more full-time roles, and schedules that let the same team follow the same patients over time.
Shift resources from treatment to prevention. Strengthen mental health services significantly, especially for young people and workers in high-strain occupations.
It is cheaper to prevent than to treat — and it is better for people. Yet most of the health budget goes to repairing damage that has already occurred. We want to reverse that priority.
Mental health must be treated with the same seriousness as physical health. Waiting times for psychological help are unacceptable, especially for young people. The threshold for getting help must come down — not through more bureaucracy, but through more capacity and faster access.
Health is just one of many areas in our party program. See the full platform.
Read more in the party program