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HEALTH

Denmark’s regions set to be disbanded after 12 years

The five elected regional councils responsible for administration of the Danish healthcare service face closure in a new reform.

Published: 16 January 2019 10:01 CET
Denmark’s regions set to be disbanded after 12 years
File photo: Linda Kastrup/Ritzau Scanpix

Several Danish media, including Ritzau, reported late on Tuesday that sources have indicated that Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen’s government will announce its intention to scrap the regions when presenting the reform on Wednesday.

The five regional councils — North Jutland, Central Jutland, Southern Denmark, Zealand and the Capital Region – on which 205 elected officials serve, will be disbanded at the end of 2020, according to the reports.

The future administrative structure of the public health service will consist of three tiers. The first will be a state body attached to the Ministry of Health, with responsibility for budgeting and overall planning.

Five regional administrations, with the same geographical demarcations and administrative centres, will be in charge of running major hospitals, but will not be under the auspices of elected officials.

According to some reports, the current regional chairpersons will be offered the chance to continue in their roles leading regional bodies.

A number of the duties of the existing regions will be transferred to 21 new health associations, which will be attached to hospitals across the country.

The idea behind this aspect of the new structure is to help hospitals, GPs and municipalities to work closer together, Ritzau writes. Mayors and chairs in municipal health committees will be in charge of the local health associations, which will include representatives of hospitals and general practices.

The expected announcement brings to an end speculation which has lasted several months over the government’s future plans for the health system.

While the Conservative, Liberal Alliance and Danish People’s parties have all called for the regions to be scrapped, the opposition is not in support of this.

Denmark’s regions were established in 2007 and officials were most recently elected in 2017.

READ ALSO: Most Danes happy with healthcare: survey

HEALTH

Lengthy waiting times at Danish hospitals not going away yet: minister

Danish Minister for the Interior and Health Sophie Løhde has warned that, despite increasing activity at hospitals, it will be some time before current waiting lists are reduced.

Published: 10 May 2023 15:09 CEST
Lengthy waiting times at Danish hospitals not going away yet: minister

The message comes as Løhde was set to meet with officials from regional health authorities on Wednesday to discuss the progress of an acute plan for the Danish health system, launched at the end of last year in an effort to reduce a backlog of waiting times which built up during the coronavirus crisis.

An agreement with regional health authorities on an “acute” spending plan to address the most serious challenges faced by the health services agreed in February, providing 2 billion kroner by the end of 2024.

READ ALSO: What exactly is wrong with the Danish health system?

The national organisation for the health authorities, Danske Regioner, said to newspaper Jyllands-Posten earlier this week that progress on clearing the waiting lists was ahead of schedule.

Some 245,300 operations were completed in the first quarter of this year, 10 percent more than in the same period in 2022 and over the agreed number.

Løhde said that the figures show measures from the acute plan are “beginning to work”.

“It’s positive but even though it suggests that the trend is going the right way, we’re far from our goal and it’s important to keep it up so that we get there,” she said.

“I certainly won’t be satisfied until waiting times are brought down,” she said.

“As long as we are in the process of doing postponed operations, we will unfortunately continue to see a further increase [in waiting times],” Løhde said.

“That’s why it’s crucial that we retain a high activity this year and in 2024,” she added.

Although the government set aside 2 billion kroner in total for the plan, the regional authorities expect the portion of that to be spent in 2023 to run out by the end of the summer. They have therefore asked for some of the 2024 spending to be brought forward.

Løhde is so far reluctant to meet that request according to Jyllands-Posten.

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