A controversial new guide using stopwatch-style timing determines practical assistance for disabled residents in Norway. Municipalities in Stjørdal and Trondheim now calculate care needs minute-by-minute.
Political advisor Kristian Lian from the Norwegian Association of the Disabled reports widespread frustration. Many families contact them about major cuts to practical assistance and terminations of user-controlled personal assistance agreements.
Eleven of sixteen BPA users in Stjørdal recently lost their assistance under the new system. One affected individual is 23-year-old Ingrid, who suffers from severe ME and chronic fatigue. She spends most days bedridden and has deteriorated since losing her assistant.
Lian criticizes the approach severely. They assess people's lives minute by minute, he says. You might get reduced by five minutes in your allocation.
County doctor Kathinka Meirik acknowledges the criticism. She understands complaints about the new guide if caseworkers use it exclusively. Even with average time estimates for services, individual needs vary greatly, she notes.
Of forty BPA complaint cases processed this year in Trøndelag county, more than half resulted in overturned municipal decisions.
The Center Party's health policy spokesperson Kjersti Toppe strongly opposes the practice. This guide should be scrapped, she states. It seems completely unreasonable and contradicts the trust reform. It represents terrible counting bureaucracy.
Parents in Stjørdal have written to the health minister requesting reversal of the decisions. They ask that affected individuals keep their previous arrangements until proper practices are established.
Stjørdal's welfare chief Ann Kristin Hoås defends the guide as a tool for caseworkers, not a replacement for professional judgment. She says it ensures equal treatment and predictability while allowing individual assessments.
Trondheim developed its guide through collaboration between health office staff and legal experts. City council secretary Siri Holm Lønseth calls it a tool to ensure equal and proper case processing.
All Norwegian municipalities must offer personal assistance services organized as user-controlled personal assistance. In 2024, nearly 400,000 people received municipal health services, with under 4,500 having BPA arrangements.
Several parliamentary parties believe the state rather than municipalities should manage BPA. The government has now appointed an expert committee to examine the system after delays in presenting a parliamentary report.
During Wednesday's parliamentary question time, Conservative politician Margret Hagerup criticized the government's handling. The minister said this matters greatly to individuals, yet took three years to decide it needs closer examination, she noted.
Health Minister Jan Christian Vestre expressed concern about varying BPA practices across municipalities but requested more time. We need to fill knowledge gaps to make good future choices, he explained.
The Health Directorate will create new national guidelines for municipalities. State Secretary Ellen Rønning-Arnesen says current differences are too large and must change.
The core issue remains whether standardized timing can adequately address complex individual care needs. This bureaucratic approach risks overlooking the human element of disability care.