On Friday it was clear that Molde won the difficult and protracted battle with Kristiansund on the location of the new hospital in the region to 6 billion. Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs sent last week ten questions to Høie about the process surrounding the empty choice.
Today – Tuesday – answers came from the minister of health.
There came inter alia stated that the Minister of Health made contact with then chairman Marthe Styve Holte in Central Norway on August 26 this year, with the goal to inform hospital process.
There, health minister also told which of the two plots choices, Molde or Kristiansund, he preferred.
– The former leader of the Central Norway Regional Health asked me earlier this year if I had any preferences. I had not then but said I should come back to it if I got a clear preference. I did in late August. When I said that I would prefer the plot near Molde, says Høie NRK.
Thus confirms the Minister of Health that he has made his views shine through at least one of its leaders in the healthcare, in autumn process that would lead up to a board resolution at Christmas.
Høie denies, however, that he has instructed the health authorities, and said every leader must make their independent choices, regardless of what the minister might think.
– Very unfortunate
Law professor January Fritdhjof Bernt says it is unfortunate that the parties should have aired their point around empty election during the setting process. Photo: Kjetil Rydland / NRK
Law professor Jan Fridthjof Bernt at the University of Bergen says to NRK that it is very unfortunate that the different parties at different levels airing their views in a process who will lead up to a setting – in this case around the empty choice.
– We can not say specifically whether the Minister has acted unlawfully here, because we need to identify more precisely how things have been said and perceived, but what we can say is that this procedure is characterized by very little professional approach to how to act when to issue a recommendation in such a controversial issue, says Bernt.
– How serious is this?
– It is very problematic for the legitimacy of the entire decision-making process that there are still so many unanswered questions, says Bent. He has previously warned that the process could be a violation of health law.
Read more detailed comments from law professor Bernt HERE.
(The article continues below)
Natural close contact
Furthermore writes health minister in ten page letter to SCSCA in Parliament that it is natural and necessary that the minister keeps close contact with the boards of health authorities.
“It is obvious that in such meetings and contacts are exchanged views from both levels,” writes Høie in the letter.
He emphasizes exchange is not legally binding and that they not in conflict with health authority law when they are not given in a corporate meeting.
– I have not tried to instruct
“In the specific case I have not instructed through annual meeting for the election of land. (..) I have not tried to instruct boards outside corporate meeting regarding election of land, “writes Høie on.
– Do you think that it may be impugned if you actually came with a instruction about what these boards to do?
– No, I mean you can not be questioned because it was clear to everyone that came meetings that board members had made up their own minds . The conversation I had with former chairman can not be construed as instructions, says Høie NRK.
Health Minister writes in the letter that he has had regular meetings with the regional health authorities and the chairman often have needed to discuss difficult Deal with him.
Høie says it is important that this contact made in confidence, but he says that he has expressed his opinion to the current chairman.
The law firm Thommessen, who conducted a legal assessment of the legality around tomte-decision, have concluded that it probably exists offenses
Eidsvik: – Felt not instructed
Former hospital director in Health Møre og Romsdal Astrid Eidsvik resigned earlier in December after she felt pressured out of the lead in the Central Norway Regional Health.
Astrid Eidsvik was the third health top that went in under two months. Photo: Ivar Lid Riise / NRK
She chose to terminate his job with immediate effect. Eidsvik was the third health top that went in under two months.
She did this apparantly after Chairman Stein Kinserdal in an e-mail to Eidsvik should have written that he believed Høie “let it shine through, but without saying it explicitly” that he support the choice of Molde.
This has subsequently been changed to that Høie nodded as confirmation that Kinserdal had said.
This says Høie about the case:
“We had a brief conversation in which I asked him how it went with the demanding process,” explains Høie. He says he got a quick report and that they Kinserdal said he poured against Opdøl in Molde. Høie have may have nodded when Kinserdal said this, however: “For me this is a way to actively listen, not at all agree with the statement.”
NRK says Astrid Eidsvik Tuesday afternoon that she have not read Høies response to the Audit Committee, but confirms:
– It is true that I have not felt instructed that Høie. I refer again to the press release as I walked by, she writes.
Saka treated in January
Control and Constitutional Committee Chairman Martin Kolberg (Ap) said Tuesday he has not read the response from high, but the answer will be treated in the new year.
– It is good that the Minister of Health has responded so quickly, but I have not read the answer and will not the caseworker this in the media. Today it is the day before Christmas, the committee shall be collected January 6 and then we will treat the case, he says, to NRK.
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