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Ambulances drove 781 times around the world
Ambulances on call drove 31.3 million kilometres in 2014. This corresponds to 781 times around the world at the equator. Ambulance services make up a small part of the overall operating costs. More than half of the costs are spent on hospital treatment on physical illnesses.
Absolute figures | Change in per cent | ||
---|---|---|---|
2014 | 2013 - 2014 | 2010 - 2014 | |
1The specialist health service includes production in both private sector and the Government. | |||
2StatRes includes specialist health services produced by the governmental institutions (Health enterprises). | |||
Figures were corrected 2 July 2015 | |||
Specialist health service1 | |||
Expenses (incl. depreciation) (NOK million) | 111 691 | -8 | 19 |
Beds | 19 751 | 1 | -6 |
Discharges | 997 647 | 2 | 4 |
Bed-days | 5 935 819 | -1 | -9 |
Out-patient consultations | 8 010 411 | 5 | 16 |
Day cases | 500 792 | 2 | -1 |
Contracted man-years adjusted for long term leaves | 104 710 | 3 | 7 |
StatRes Specialist health service2 | |||
Own production specialist health services (mill. NOK) | 109 235 | 8 | 26 |
Beds | 15 142 | 0 | -4 |
Bed-days | 4 605 114 | -1 | -7 |
Discharges | 904 253 | 2 | 4 |
Day cases | 412 580 | 0 | -6 |
Out-patient consultations | 7 464 426 | 5 | 16 |
Contracted man-years adjusted for long term leaves in specialist health services | 93 252 | 3 | 9 |
Just over NOK 20 in every NOK 100 is used for treatment of mental illness and substance abuse. The distribution of costs into different functions is shown in figure 2.
NOK 4 in every NOK 100 is spent on ambulance services. An average ambulance call-out is 48 kilometres, but this varies in different parts of the country. The shortest average driving distances are found in the cities of Oslo and Bergen, with less than 30 kilometres per call-out. The longest driving distance is in the county of Sogn and Fjordane in the Western part of Norway – over 100 kilometres per call-out on average.
Seven of one hundred hospital beds were empty
Public hospitals had a capacity of more than 3.6 million days for admitting inpatients in 2014. This means that seven out of ten Norwegians could have spent one night in hospital last year. The number of reported bed days was 3.5 million. This gives an occupancy rate of 93. The rate includes both emergency and elective care in various types of departments in general hospitals. The highest rate is in the Western part of Norway, and the lowest in the Northern part. The difference between regions has been stable in recent years and figures are shown for 2014 in figure 3.
Treatment of substance abuse often performed by private institutions
Both public and private hospitals and institutions provide specialist health services, but different types of services are dominant in the two sectors. The private sector’s share is highest for substance abuse treatment. Figure 4 shows that almost four out of ten NOK spent on treatment of substance abuse was spent in the private sector. The private share of total operating costs was substantially lower for other services. The hospitals owned by the government through the four regional health authorities (RHAs) carry out a larger portion of acute treatment and complex cases.
Lower costs due to pension reform
Total operating costs for specialist health services accounted for NOK 112 billion in 2014. Compared to 2013, this is a reduction. The reduction is related to the pension reform and the reduction of future pension liabilities. For more information, see the text box.
Nine in ten work in state-owned services
About 133 000 persons worked in specialist health services in 2014, and nearly nine out of ten worked in the health trusts owned by the central government. The private specialist service is made up of private hospitals and institutions, which are mainly owned by non-profit organisations. These hospitals offer services on behalf of the state and are mainly financed by the regional health authorities (RHAs). The largest of these provide services to the population in a defined catchment area. In addition, a number of self-employed physicians and psychologists have operating agreements with RHAs, and likewise offer services on behalf of the state.
Highest proportion of persons with health education in state services
In health trusts owned by the state, the portion of employees qualified in health services is 78 per cent, and in the private sector this portion is 71. Figure 5 shows the disparities in education level in the two sectors. There is a notable difference of the proportion of trained nurses in the two sectors – four out of ten in state hospitals are trained nurses, compared to three out of ten in private hospitals. Twelve per cent in both sectors are physicians. More than half of the physicians in the private sector are self-employed with an operation agreement, and relatively few are working in hospitals and institutions.
Considerable reduction of pension costsOpen and readClose
In the state health trusts, pension costs fell from NOK 12.4 billion in 2013 to NOK -2.7 billion in 2014. Pension costs reflect the change in employers’ pension liabilities from one year to the next. The future liabilities are calculated based on a number of factors, such as assumptions on future pay increases and how long the employees will work before retiring. In 2014, pension costs were reduced considerably due to the introduction of life expectancy adjustments for public service pensions for people born after 1953. In 2010, we observed a corresponding reduction when life expectancy adjustments were introduced for cohorts born before 1954.
Contact
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Spesialisthelsetjenesten
E-mail: spesialisthelsetjenesten@ssb.no
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Borgny Vold
E-mail: borgny.vold@ssb.no
tel.: (+47) 48 07 81 08
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Geir Hjemås
E-mail: geir.hjemas@ssb.no
tel.: (+47) 93 08 27 75
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Emshaw Degife Gurmu
E-mail: emshaw.degife.gurmu@ssb.no
tel.: (+47) 40 90 23 27
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Ingrid Hatlebakk Hove
E-mail: ingrid.hatlebakk@ssb.no
tel.: (+47) 91 88 14 28