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Svensk sundhedsvæsen dårligst i Norden

Long queues to see a doctor and get treatment in Sweden have dragged the country far down a European ranking of healthcare providers, with Sweden now the worst among its Nordic neighbours despite efforts to cut waiting times. On Tuesday, a Brussels-based Swedish researcher revealed that Sweden had the worst health system of any of the five Nordic countries. Sweden slipped from sixth to eleventh place among 35 European countries, with Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland all racing past it.

The report in particular had harsh words for waiting times in the Swedish healthcare system. It gave as an example that teenagers suffering anorexia at times have to wait six months for an appointment with a specialist. It also highlighted its concern that cancer patients were left to wait.

“Why can Albania operate its healthcare services with practically zero waiting times, and Sweden cannot?” the report authors from the Health Consumer Powerhouse (HCP) organization in Brussels asked, albeit acknowledging modest improvements. “The Swedish queue-shortening project, on which the state has spent approximately 5 billion euro, has achieved some shortening of waiting times.” Sweden aims to make sure people can see their general practitioner within one week max, which the organization said was a modest goal in and of itself.

“The target for maximum wait in Sweden to see your primary care doctor (no more than seven days) is underachieved only by Portugal, where the corresponding figure is 15 days,” the report stated.”Only Serbia has equally long waiting times as Sweden today,” HCP founder Johan Hjertqvist said in a statement. “Despite the government pumping billions into the queue system, very little is happening.” Sweden’s health system ‘worst in the Nordics’

Sveriges resultat påverkas av bland annat den nya abort-indikatorn, där den mycket höga svenska abortfrekvensen kan tolkas som att aborter används som ett preventivmedel, med hälsorisker för mödrarna och belastning på sjukvården. Lika många aborter som i Sverige – fler än 30 aborter per 100 födslar – återfinns idag bara i länder som tillhört det forna Sovjetblocket.

Samtidigt som den svenska politiska debatten handlar om brister i vård och omsorg presenteras idag årets Euro Health Consumer Index (EHCI), där Sverige halkar från 6:e till 11:e plats av 35 europeiska länder. Sverige får se sig passerat av alla övriga nordiska länder. Sverige rasar i årets ranking av EU-sjukvården ”Fortfarande bra vårdresultat men oförmåga ta itu med kroniska svagheter” –