“Various long waiting times for the same treatment depending on where you live”
New statistics from the National Board of Health and Welfare show that last year almost every eighth patient was sent to other regions for surgery or another procedure. The reason is the care queues and that not all hospitals can offer all kinds of care. In October, 66,300 patients had waited longer than 90 days to receive specialist care.
– Here it can take up to a year or longer to wait for an operation, says Stig-Evert Thornberg, director of operations at Kirurgcentrum.
When TV4 Nyheterna visits the Surgery Center at Norrland University Hospital, pancreatic cancer is operated on, among other things. In healthcare, cancer patients are prioritized – but those with more harmless ailments may have to wait a long time for surgery.
– It can take a year or longer, both here at the Surgery Center and at the orthopedist, patients have to wait, says Stig-Evert Thornberg, director of operations.
12.9 percent are sent to other hospitals
Recent statistics from the National Board of Health and Welfare show that 12.9 percent of patients who did not have life-threatening illnesses last year were sent to other hospitals for surgery or other measures. Most patients were sent from Gävleborg, Södermanland and Västernorrland. Stockholm, Skåne and Västra Götaland sent few patients.
– What we see is that there are very different long waiting times for the same treatment depending on where you live. The regions have different capacities and if we can transfer patients within Sweden to regions where there is better capacity, the queues will simply be shortened, says Henrik Lysell, unit manager for patient safety and capacity planning at the National Board of Health and Welfare.
National care mediation must solve the planning
The statistics will now form the basis of the national care agency for which the government wants the National Board of Health and Welfare to develop guidelines for. Through more coordination, it will be more efficient and patients will have to wait a shorter time, is the hope.
Stig-Evert Thornberg believes that a national care agency can work better than the care planning that now takes place within all regions separately. But what healthcare primarily needs to reduce queues is more resources.
– More resources are needed overall and also going forward because technology development is moving forward, especially in cancer care, says Stig-Evert Thornberg, director of operations at the Surgical Center at Norrland University Hospital.