The Standing Committee on Health and Care Services has considered a private member's bill from Kjersti Toppe and Erling Sande on measures to ensure sufficient midwife staffing in healthcare. The committee shares concerns about high turnover among midwives, lack of practice placements, and work pressure in maternity and postpartum wards. Various committee members have put forward a range of proposals with differing levels of support.
AI-generated summary · Model: Claude Haiku 4.5 · Generated: 14 May 2026
These are the proposals in the document, not decisions. See the votes for the outcome.
The Storting calls on the government to increase the number of study and practice places for midwives, including investment in decentralised study places, and to ensure that additional teaching positions in midwifery education are established according to need, and to report back to the Storting in due course.
The Storting calls on the government to initiate discussions between universities and colleges and health trusts on the possibility of using more hospitals as practice placement sites.
The Storting calls on the government to examine a scheme to provide nurses who wish to train as midwives with salary during their studies, conditional on a commitment to full-time work at a hospital for a specified period following qualification.
The Storting calls on the government to examine how a compensation scheme for students who must travel long distances to their practice placement could be designed, including whether a grants scheme could be established through the State Educational Loan Fund, and to report back to the Storting in due course.
The Storting calls on the government to examine and pilot a five-year integrated midwifery education programme and to inform the Storting in due course.
The Storting calls on the government to return with a comprehensive review of midwifery education, including consideration of whether to introduce or pilot a five-year integrated programme, how to strengthen and better organise practice arrangements, including the practice year and whether it remains necessary.
The Storting calls on the government to establish mentoring schemes and structured induction programmes for newly qualified midwives, and to ensure increased access to further and continuing education for midwives, and to report back to the Storting in due course.
The Storting calls on the government to ensure that Tinn municipality can continue its scheme of dedicated birth-follow-up services provided by a midwife for women in labour.
The Storting calls on the government to ensure continuous maternity, birth, and postpartum care through models such as 'My Midwife' and 'Good Start' in all health trusts by 2030 and a scaling-up of combined positions for midwives between municipalities and hospitals, and to inform the Storting in due course.
The Storting calls on the government to implement a national action plan for midwifery services to ensure good follow-up of pregnant women and safe maternity and postpartum care across the country.
The Storting calls on the government to ensure differentiated maternity, birth, and postpartum care in all health trusts, with continuous follow-up throughout the pregnancy and birth pathway and increased use of combined positions for midwives between primary care and specialist healthcare.
The Storting calls on the government to ensure that all health trusts introduce measures for increased core staffing, full-time positions, and adjusted working schedules on maternity and postpartum wards to ensure quality and safe follow-up of mother and child and reduce sick leave and turnover among midwives, and to inform the Storting in due course.
The Storting calls on the government to ensure that health trusts implement measures to recruit more health care assistants and nursery nurses to maternity and postpartum care to free up time for midwives, and to inform the Storting in due course.
The Storting calls on the government to examine and propose new measures that would allow experienced midwives to remain in work for longer, and to report back to the Storting in due course.