Facts: The ministers at the Ministry of Social Affairs
Anna Tenje (M), Minister for the Elderly and Social Insurance
Jakob Forssmed (KD), Minister of Social Affairs
Acko Ankarberg Johansson (KD), Minister of Health
Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M), Minister of Social Services
Elderly care was red-hot during the initial years of the pandemic, but experts and researchers have pointed out that the issue ended up in the shadows in the autumn election campaign where electricity prices, the Ukraine war, criminal policy and defense took center stage.
“It affects everyone in society, and even the elderly thought these issues were important,” says Minister for the Elderly and Social Insurance Anna Tenje.
– You have to bear in mind that the pandemic really made some shortcomings visible, but it made us all discuss these issues. Just because some other issues become dominant does not make this issue go away. It was increasingly present with many municipal politicians, regional politicians and also at national level.
The equivalence different
Swedish care for the elderly faces major challenges ahead. According to the National Board of Health and Welfare’s Director General Olivia Wigzell, it is important that the shortcomings and problems made visible by the pandemic do not fall into oblivion. How to solve the staffing issue with an aging population, for example? That is one of the key questions.
Anna Tenje does not believe in a changed leadership. She is adamant that care for the elderly is a municipal issue and should continue to be so. But Sweden is also a large country with many municipalities where the conditions look different, she adds.
– You can still state that the equivalence looks different and I think that the state has a greater responsibility there. We will return to that discussion.
According to her, the supply of skills is the most important issue for elderly care to solve going forward. The previous government introduced the so-called elderly care lift, which aims to give staff the opportunity to train during working hours. The new government will not add any money to that investment after 2023.
— That part is about developing the skills of the staff you already have. It is important and we definitely need to do that. But in order to be able to develop the skills of staff, you need someone else to take over that person’s position in the meantime, she says.
“I would really like to clean up the number of targeted state subsidies. We will look at that in a future investigation, how effective it is with targeted state subsidies,” says Anna Tenje.
— The big problem in care for the elderly is ultimately about finding staff.
Parallel crises
Anna Tenje points out that many municipalities have not used the government funds that were available. In 2020, 31 percent of the approximately 400 million that the municipalities asked for in total were used. Last year, 42 percent of just over 3 billion was used. The new government wants to look at other forms of how to solve the supply of skills.
— It’s an important question, but we’ll have to come back to it later.
In the budget, the government has proposed a permanent increase in the general state grants to municipalities and regions of NOK 6 billion. Sweden’s Municipalities and Regions (SKR) has pointed out that regions and also municipalities, which manage care for the elderly, risk a deficit of 20-30 billion in the coming years if costs increase in line with predicted price and wage increases. Savings in the future cannot be ruled out, they say.
TT: Why not more money for elderly care?
— We are in a situation where we have several parallel crises at the same time and then we have to deal with the different parallel crises at the same time. Here and now, we have prioritized an increase in the general state grants, says Anna Tenje.
— Then we have to follow the economic development very closely.
“Clean up”
She sees that there is a lot to be done so that tax money can be used more efficiently. In addition to general grants, there are also so-called targeted state grants, something that SKR, among others, has long been critical of.
The minister is on the same line. The municipalities themselves are the ones who know what gives the best “bang for the buck”, according to Anna Tenje and says that a lot of money is lost in the bureaucracy.
— I would really like to clean up the number of targeted state grants.
— It is something that we will look at in an investigation in the future, how effective it is with targeted state subsidies.