Sandviken Hospital () is a

psychiatric hospital A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe Mental disorder, mental disorders. These institutions cater t ...

situated in the

Sandviken Sandviken is a locality and the seat of Sandviken Municipality in Gävleborg County, Sweden with 26,438 inhabitants in 2023. It is situated about 25 km west of Gävle and lies approximately 190 km north of Stockholm. The rail journey t ...

neighborhood of

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It is part of Bergen Hospital Trust, and is the only secure psychiatric unit within

Western Norway Regional Health Authority Western Norway Regional Health Authority () is a public ownership, state-owned regional health authority (Norway), regional health authority responsible for operating the hospitals in the counties of Rogaland and Vestland in Norway. Based in Stava ...

History

The hospital was established in 1891 as Neevengården Asylum (''Neevengården asyl''). It changed its name to Neevengården Hospital (''Neevengården sykehus'') in 1927, and took the current name in 1978. The hospital was constructed and owned by Bergen municipality, but was transferred to

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Munici ...

county in 1972. It had place for 178 patients initially, but by 1955 reached a top of 518 patients. The hospital was in 2002 merged with the Psychiatric clinic of

Haukeland University Hospital Haukeland University Hospital () is a hospital in Bergen, Norway, and one of the eleven institutions that make up Bergen Hospital Trust. Haukeland is the largest in Norway in terms of number of patients, and serves as the local hospital of Bergen, ...

, and has since then been a part of the Bergen Hospital Trust and owned by the Norwegian state.

Controversies

After a continuous reduction in the number of rooms/beds, the hospital has since the 2010s had hundreds of cases each year of patients being placed in hospital beds in the hallways. The hospital has repeatedly received strong criticism from the

Norwegian Parliamentary Ombudsman The Norwegian Parliamentary Ombud (), formerly the Norwegian Parliamentary Ombudsman (), is the ombudsman appointed by the Norwegian Parliament to safeguard the rights of individual citizens in their dealings with all levels of the public administ ...

for its extensive use of isolation rooms. In 2023 the

Norwegian Board of Health Supervision The Norwegian Board of Health Supervision (, short name ''Helsetilsynet'') is a national government institution under the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services (''Helse- og omsorgsd ...

found several legal and regulation offences at the hospital's emergency department.

History

Controversies

References

Further reading