Low pay leaves Faroe Islands hospital without specialist psychologist

The National Hospital in the Faroe Islands no longer has a specialist psychologist because the salary does not reflect the required qualifications and duties, Kringvarp Føroya (KVF) reports.

The Hospital Service says the current collective agreement does not allow specialist psychologists to be paid for their specialist training and functions.

“We cannot expect specialist psychologists to work in the Hospital Service if they are not paid for their specialist training,” Health Minister Eyðdis Hartmann Niclasen said.

She was responding to a question from Member of the Løgting Bjørt Lind about specialist psychologists for children and young people and for adults.

According to the minister, specialist psychologists can be trained in the Faroe Islands. However, this requires a specialist psychologist to be employed by the Hospital Service, which currently has none.

The psychiatric department says it wants to train specialist psychologists.

Niclasen said it was very important to resolve the salary conditions so that specialist psychologists could be trained and employed. The issue concerns the Ministry of Finance and the relevant trade union, she said.