With the introduction of the Dýrafjörður corridor, it can be said that the merger of the Vestfjörður Health Foundation is in many respects complete, seven years after the organization merged into one on paper.

A shortening of about 300 kilometers

The Vestfjörður Health Institute was created in its current form in 2014 when the Patreksfjörður Health Institute merged with the then Vestfjörður Health Institute. It was the last step in a consolidation process that began a few decades earlier with the consolidation of medical districts, nursing homes and other services into larger and more efficient units.

Equally, mergers were accompanied by transport improvements. It both happened when the Ísafjarðarbær Health Institute was created out of the opening of the Vestfjarðagangi and when the health institutions of Ísafjarðarbær and Bolungarvíkur merged around the time the Bolungarvíkur tunnel opened.

However, this did not apply to the merger in 2014. The distance between the hospitals in Ísafjörður and Patreksfjörður was about 170 kilometers in the summer, a considerable part of which was on gravel roads. In winter, however, the distance was over 440 kilometers, including over numerous mountain roads, when you had to drive through Hólmavík, where the roads over the Hrafnseyr and Dynjandisheiðar were closed in early winter.

When Dýrafjörður Tunnel was opened at the end of October the distance is shortened by almost the 30 kilometers that took the longest time to drive. Now the distance is about 140 kilometers. This fall announced The road construction to winter service would be on Dynjandiheiði all day days.  

Since the merger, a large part of the organization's top management and support services has been in Ísafjörður. It is also possible to provide various services in Ísafjörður, which do not have a sufficient population to support Patreksfjörður and the surrounding areas. This applies, for example, to the services of midwives and the operation of a research laboratory.

Southerners feel the difference

Although it was clear from the beginning that in particular, it would be in the top management that any joint venture would be reached, many things have been done in the last years and periods to integrate the activities. In this way, many changes have been made to the organizational chart, including the seat of the head of nursing at Patreksfjörður in the executive committee and the establishment of an operational board at the establishment in Patreksfjörður. Also, the introduction of Workplace has connected the organization, and teleconferencing is being used more internally—and that was before the pandemic dramatically increased the use of teleconferencing equipment. In addition, there has been considerable staff turnover. But electronic communication does not solve everything, especially not in healthcare.

With the road improvements, we have established fixed weekly trips from Ísafjörður to Patreksfjörður and back again. This will make the organization's integration much easier:

  • Midwives' services in the southern region have now become much better with bi-monthly trips to Patreksfjörður.
  • Blood samples from Patreksfjörður are sent for analysis at Ísafjörður.
  • The staff of the psychiatric team in Ísafjörður conduct interviews in Patreksfjörður.
  • Health data scientists have long overdue tasks in the professional storage of important documents
  • Radiologists have followed the new X-ray machine that was recently installed at Patreksfjörður and helped with its use.
  • Staff get to know each other and learn from each other.

Ambulances have also started between the two hospitals, where ambulances from Ísafjörður and Patreksfjörður meet halfway when transporting patients. Also, residents in the southern region can now go to Ísafjörður to receive services that are not available in Patreksfjörður, for example dentistry.

Exciting opportunity

Time and experience will reveal how this all develops. The corona virus pandemic therefore limits the way people meet in groups and travel between health facilities, and it will be interesting to see how things develop after vaccination ends.

The journey now takes about two hours each way — no tailgating, for that matter — but you can drive back and forth and do tasks within the day without having to spend the night with the associated disruption to your work-life balance.

This winter has been light snow and I believe only one trip was cancelled, on a day where there was no travel weather anyway. Construction is currently underway on the road over Dynjandisheiði, which will further improve the conditions and will rapidly increase the road's reliability, and the Road Administration announces that the restoration of a 14 km section will be put out to tender soon.

There is therefore every reason to be optimistic about the future and look forward to the continued strengthening of cooperation within the quarter.

Gylfi Ólafsson CEO

Author: GÓ