Updated 17.41 | Published 17.39
UNSaveSpara
Expand-Left
The full -screen day room at Vardaga’s accommodation in Söderköping. The armchairs have relatives Anita. Sometimes they are moved around the accommodation, for example if they are needed for a wake in a room where a resident is for death. According to Vardaga, more furniture is ordered and will show up around Easter. Photo: Private
The Group goes with close to 1.4 billion plus.
Nevertheless, the elderly at Vardaga’s accommodation in Söderköping have been encouraged to pay for the toilet paper themselves.
“It’s not wise, I call it fraud,” says Anita Wallstedt, a relative who protested.
Ⓘ The summary is made with the support of AI tools from Openai and quality assured by Aftonbladet. Read our AI policy here.
Show more
Chevron-Down
In the living room at the elderly residence Dalgården in Söderköping there are three armchairs in front of the TV. These will share 16 residents in the department, as well as their visitors. The armchairs are purchased and donated by relatives Anita Wallstedt, 80, and are also moved around if needed inside someone’s room.
The company Vardaga, which owns the accommodation, has not arranged any furniture since they took over six months ago and believes that it is the municipality’s responsibility.
Anita Wallstedt’s husband Karl-Axel, 80, lives at Dalgården since he suffered a brain injury after a stroke, and when she visits him several times a week with coffee and some fresh fruit they have nothing to sit on.
– It is a disaster when sixteen people in the department want to be able to watch TV. There is only a small table with stick chairs and the two armchairs that we bought for the accommodation, plus another one we got from a neighbor, says Anita Wallstedt.
Expand-Left
Helskärmanita Wallstedt has reacted to the deterioration of the accommodation where her husband lives. She is involved in issues of abusive discrimination, and is struggling for the elderly and sick to have their rights satisfied.
Sent out list: “Misunderstanding”
The rent for a place at Dalgården is SEK 12,367 a month. But a few weeks ago, Vardaga also sent out a list to the relatives, if all consumables the residents would pay for that. Including toilet paper, toilet brush, fever thermometer, scrubbing, mop, garbage bags, detergents, sheets and towels. Over a thousand SEK cost it for Anita Wallstedt.
She heard furiously from the municipality’s managers, and wondered if they knew that everyday life.
Following Anita’s complaint, Vardaga claimed three weeks later that it became a misunderstanding, the toilet paper and the detergent would be included in the rent. The relatives who heard could get the money back. Furniture will be delivered first Easter.
– A misunderstanding? If I hadn’t alerted, no one else would have done it. Relatives have already bought everything on the list. One wonders if this only applies to the accommodation in Söderköping or the whole of Vardaga? says Anita Wallstedt.
Aftonbladet has been in contact with Vardaga’s central press department, which says that it differs from municipality to municipality which consumables will pay for themselves, and that it has become a mistake with the list in Söderköping.
Expand-Left
The full screen List of everything the residents would pay for themselves. When relatives alerted to the municipality, they were told that it was a misunderstanding and that those who heard would get money back.
The husband had escaped – no one called
Here a week Anita Wallstedt got the shock of her life as she looked out the window at home and saw her husband coming. He had escaped from Vardaga’s accommodation through a door that someone forgot to lock and took several kilometers himself, without staff hearing from her.
It wasn’t the first time. Karl-Axel has also escaped through the balcony on the first floor, fell over the fence and hit the head in the stone plates, without the staff noticing it. Inside the accommodation, an emergency exit with a heavy agency has been set so that dementia cannot get out – even though it can mean life danger in the event of a fire.
– You get family sick with this kind of thing, you feel so bad day and night and can never relax, because it is neglected the whole accommodation. The staff works to death, but still do not have time, they are too few, says Anita Wallstedt.
Expand-Left
The full -screen day is part of the care giant Ambea, a group that made close to SEK 1.4 billion last year. Photo: Carolina Bymo
Vardaga took over six months ago
She has regularly meets with a support group for relatives and lines up deficiencies that they, according to her, have discovered since Vardaga won the procurement and took over the operation of Dalgården in September last year. Previously, it was run by another private care company.
Relatives are critical of the fact that the staff, according to them, leave the residents alone in the dining room unattended, and against the large staff turnover. At night, a person works alone in the department with 16 elderly people. The fact that accommodation sometimes enters the kitchen and that kitchen staff who cook the food must also change diapers is another problem that they point out. And then it is the lack of activities for the residents.
Karl-Axel is not happy, but can no longer live at home since he got worse, says Anita Wallstedt.
– He has nothing to do in the days and says he wants to come home with me, it’s so hard to hear.
Vardaga: Went out the wrong information
According to Vardagas responsible, their accommodation in Söderköping has both the staff staffing needed and a range of activities for the elderly. The activities can be accessed via an Instagram account. Regarding escapes, they do not want to comment on individual events with Anita’s husband, but say that you follow their local routines.
– At the same time, one must understand that it can be complex to work with people with dementia. A retirement home is the home of the residents and we must not prevent their freedom of movement. In each given case, you need to find a balance, says Petra Jansén, operations manager for the big gang, which includes Dalgården.
Vardaga does not want to specify how the misunderstanding of the list of consumables arose or why they only changed after acceleration. They regret that the wrong information went out and believes that those who have been able to trade consumables should receive compensation for it.
Read the full answer below.
Expand-Left
Whole screen for residents with dementia not to get out, emergency exits have been blocked by heavy agencies – something that may mean life in the event of a fire, relatives say. Vardaga believes that the door is broken and that the agency has now been removed. Photo: Private.
Facts Day’s response to the criticism
Is it reasonable for relatives to buy armchairs to have something to sit on in front of the TV?
It is the municipality that is responsible for paying for the furniture in public spaces. The furniture is ordered and delivery is calculated around Easter.
Relatives experience a deterioration since you took over, and believe that the staff is unmanned and that accommodation is left unsurprisingly at meals?
We have the staff staffing needed to meet good quality of care and care. To put things into perspective, we have a comparable staffing with the performer who operated Storängen before us.
Is it true that accommodation can go into the kitchen and that kitchen staff are forced to change diapers?
In Vardaga we have a concept called “Food as at home” which is very much appreciated by our residents. We follow environmental and health guidelines on food hygiene. The staff is also trained in food hygiene.
What activities are there for the residents? According to relatives, they find it difficult to employ themselves.
Storängen has an activist manager who works 75 percent as well as activity representatives in all departments that together in the activity council plan and carry out activities. Schedule for activities can be found in all departments and on Storängen’s Instagram account.
Is it true that a person works alone at night with 16 residents in the department?
We never leave the departments unmanned at night. BI always has an employee placed on each business and there is an extra employee at night who is at hand when you need to be two.
Read more