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Research by experts from Oslo University Hospital and Trondheim St. Olav Hospital shows errors and shortcomings in connection with operations performed especially in Sandnessjøen.
NRK has had access to the reports. They were ordered by hospital management after abnormally high mortality was discovered in January after cancer operations at Helgeland Hospital HF.
In a report, Chief Medical Officer Arild Nesbakken at Gastrosurgery at OUS concludes the following about the hospital in Sandnessjøen.
“Half of all operated patients had one or more deviations from the national guidelines for the treatment of bowel cancer”
– I think the proportion of patients who did not receive adequate and early enough treatment for complications is too high and cause for concern, he writes in the report.
Rana Blad was the first to mention the case.
Call a special board meeting
A special board meeting is being called for Helgeland Hospital this afternoon.
This message was posted today by the hospital on its intranet, according to ranablad.no:
“Unfortunately, the report shows findings that violate good practices and operations that have also been a danger to patients. We will report the conditions to the Norwegian Board of Health and implement the necessary measures to ensure safe patient treatment.”
Stoppages in January
In January this year, the management of Helgeland Hospital temporarily halted bowel cancer surgery in Sandnessjøen. The background was troubling figures from the National Cancer Registry. The death rate 100 days after surgery was claimed to be five times higher at Sandnessjøen hospital than the national average.
After the closure, Helse Nord investigated and then decided to reopen the cancer surgery. This came amid a heated debate about the location between the hospital settings in Rana and Sandnessjøen.
The examinations that have now been performed are based on a review of the medical records of all patients operated on in the period 2016-2019. A total of 49 patients in Sandnessjøen and 105 patients in Mo i Rana.
– mistreated
Ingeborg Steinholt is a doctor in Sandnessjøen and a representative of the hospital’s quality committee.
– We heard rumors that the evaluations were ready. And asked to have these in the middle of last week. They called us to a meeting on Friday. Therefore, we prayed and asked to have them so that we could understand the matter.
Only last night did Steinholt have access to the reports, after they were first mentioned in Rana Blad.
– We feel very badly treated, says Steinholt.
Steinholt says the little they have managed to read shows that there are gaps in the conclusions. The UNN Tromsø report will not be as critical as the reports from Oslo University Hospital and St. Olav Hospital.
– But is there no reason to worry when you see the conclusions?
– We must always be humble that we have the potential to improve. But we consider this to be the same situation that was investigated in January, Steinholt says.
Comprehensive review
Hulda Gunnlaugsdottir, executive director of Helgeland Hospital, writes in an email to NRK.
“It was planned and convened for a joint meeting with leaders and professionals from the surgical settings in Sandnessjøen and Mo i Rana on Friday September 4. There we should have a review of the three sub-reports and the compiled report that has now been prepared.”
And she further writes:
“It is very unfortunate that the media had access to these reports before we did this review and began the process and planned actions. It must be safe to be a patient at Helgeland Hospital. Now it is important that we get a thorough review and that we work as one Helgeland hospital. “
