The new investments in national healthcare mediation were presented at a press conference on 4 March 2024 ahead of the spring budget, in connection with the government and its partner party also presenting a healthcare investment of SEK 6 billion to the regions.
– Waiting times and care queues must be shortened. The establishment of a national healthcare agency is long-awaited and now we are speeding up the development by investing additional funds in the spring budget, says Minister of Health Acko Ankarberg Johansson.
Long waiting times have long been a problem in Swedish healthcare and the differences in waiting times between regions and between different parts of healthcare are also large. National care mediation means that waiting patients are offered care at another care provider with shorter waiting times, regardless of where in the country this care provider is located. It is a complex process that involves a new matching and relocation of care needs and available care capacity between different care providers and regions.
The work must be intensified
The investigation “Task to enable a national digital infrastructure for health data”, which was added in January 2024, is given additional funds to analyze the legal prerequisites for the establishment of a national healthcare agency and the reporting of the task is brought forward.
The appropriation for the establishment of a national care mediation is added to SEK 25 million in the spring amendment budget with the aim of strengthening the ongoing work. This means that the allocation is adjusted from 100 to 150 million for the coming years.
The mandate of the e-health authority and the National Board of Health and Welfare to implement immediate initiatives that support and strengthen patients’ ability to receive care from other care providers with shorter waiting times (S2023/02119) is brought forward.
Digital solutions and measurement methods
The government invests ten million kroner in the spring change budget for the work on developing methods to measure available national care capacity in order to use available personnel in health care in an efficient manner. The work is an important prerequisite for the national healthcare agency to function.
